The Pursuit of His Happiness
by AriandEzra
Summary: He hadn't planned on breaking away from home and changing his name. He hadn't planned on teaching in a town so small that secrets ran a muck. He hadn't planned to involve himself in a clandestine affair of the heart. He hadn't planned to be in jail for a year. And Ezra Fitz certainly hadn't planned on falling headfirst and totally in love with seventeen year old Aria Montgomery.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't think I've ever felt so passionately about a story as I do this one. It's going to be different than anything I've really ever written and I hope all of you enjoy what I have to give and go along for the ride with me. **

**I have to give, and probably will be giving even more, thanks to Lyndsey. You probably read her fabulous story "Stepmother at 17". I don't think I could've mapped this thing out without her help. **

**Please review! It would mean so much to me! Follows and favorites are great, but I love to hear your feedback!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. I wish I owned Aria and Ezra. **

* * *

The pursuit of real happiness was the only thing that rested in the mind of Ezra Fitz on the April 20, 2014. His ultimate search for inexplicable glee didn't end with a boatload of money, nor did it end with a claim to overwhelming fame with a published book and a huge movie company owning the rights to his work. His quest ended with getting his life back on track – in fact, the moment he was free of his damned orange jumpsuit and concrete walls, he could get his life to start anew again. At the now tender age of twenty five, Ezra hadn't envisioned his life to turn out the way it had so far.

He hadn't planned on breaking away from home and changing his name.

He hadn't planned on teaching in a town so small that secrets ran amuck.

He hadn't planned to involve himself in a clandestine affair of the heart.

He hadn't planned to be in jail for a year.

And Ezra Fitz certainly hadn't planned on falling headfirst and totally in love with seventeen year old Aria Montgomery almost the moment he graduated from Hollis College. He hadn't planned on giving up his first stable job for her in order for them to be together nor did he plan on going to prison because of her.

Going into Snooker's Bar and Grill on that fateful Labor Day of 2011, a fresh faced and somewhat heartbroken young man had gone in with a hankering for a glass of scotch to numb the harsh reality of the real world setting in. Graduating from college was an accomplishment all on its own, but the sugar coated days of schoolbooks and teachers was really over. Ezra could remember himself as the curly headed young man who only wanted a glass of scotch to ease his mind.

Instead of walking out with a slightly buzzed mindset, he walked out with a bounce in his step and the number of a pretty brunette that he spent an otherworldly hour with in the dirty Snooker's bathroom, her perched on the counter and the sink running from their jolts of movement.

Ezra saw the same fresh faced young man in front of a high school classroom with zeal to start his first day of work. To land a teaching job right out of college was a major kudos on his part. He could still remember the tie he wore – a striped one with various shades of blue and grey that brought out his eyes, or so Aria had told him once. His own jaw dropped presently with the memory of seeing the same pretty brunette sitting over towards the windows.

It was that pretty brunette that inevitably became Ezra's world in the matter of days. Even with the constant secrets and the messy breakups and the miscommunications, Ezra Fitz's world seemed to orbit around Aria Montgomery. The happy times always seemed to outweigh the bad ones.

Memories of vegan takeout that he would scarf down just because she loved it and movie night coin tosses that always ended in some form of a heated debate and then very heated activities in between the sheets where what he clung to with each passing day. For the whole year, Ezra had hoped Aria would make a single visit. Except, the wishing that he'd see her gleaming hazel eyes gazing back at him through the glass towards him seemed to dull with every passing day that she never appeared. Completely out of character, Ezra said his prayers at night with pleas to see her face at least once, but she never came along. The only wish he could hold onto now was that the minute he walked through the gates towards his freedom, Aria would be standing there waiting for him.

* * *

_The tally chart in his journal listed today as being Day Number One hundred-thirty four. Ezra didn't care much about the month, nor did he care much about the seasons that seemed to go blustering by at a snail's pace. He only cared as to how many days it had been since he was locked away and how many it would be until he was let out. Visiting hours had always been something of enjoyment and disappointment all wrapped into one. Being the genuine person he was, Ezra liked to see the glimpses of smiles on various inmates faces towards seeing their loved ones. _

_But his loved one never seemed to appear - only his mother from time to time until he shooed her away or Hardy._

_His quasi-best friend and lawyer found it silly that Ezra seemed to sit on some grand egg of hope that Aria would come waltzing in past security in a pair of stacked heel boots and a chunky necklace. On day Number One hundred-thirty four, Hardy showed his badge to make his way towards Ezra's small visiting station. A small, hopeful smile rested on the blue eyed man's lips, eyes flitting behind Hardy to see if anyone would be following in suit. _

_"Ezra," Hardy spoke in a solemn voice as he sat down in front of him. It was all the other man needed to know that his hopes had been let down for the one hundred- thirty fourth time._

* * *

"Fitz," called a gruff voice. Ezra looked up from the cement floor and towards the voice where the burly security guard waited for him. "You're up." The jumpsuit felt too itchy and the walls and bars of his cell felt too constricting. He could feel his heart banging against his chest cavity towards the close ability of being free of the damned place.

In truth, Ezra was scared to go back into the real world, just like he had been upon graduating Hollis. It was one thing to have an open relationship with someone eight years younger than him. It was another when majority of the town know knew that said relationship had started while he was Aria's teacher. Visions of rotten tomatoes being thrown his way and boos sounding from every which way while he walked around the small town of Rosewood played over and over in his head. It didn't matter how unrealistic it was – the honest fact was that the world was cruel. People only saw things for what they were in black and white. They didn't care about anything that was underlying. The people of Rosewood wouldn't care that he and Aria were madly and passionately in love. They would only care that they began a relationship while he had been an authoritative figure.

Ezra scoffed as he went into the small changing room where Hardy had left him a bag of clothes the night before. It was graduating college all over again. Except this time, he was graduating from _jail. _

When he looked in the mirror, Ezra no longer saw the fresh faced new teacher that he'd once been. A twenty five year old wasn't supposed to look as weathered as he did. There were wrinkles under his eyes that shouldn't be present until he was at least forty. Ezra was supposed to look happy and in love, but all he could see in the reflection back at him was a man with unruly hair, a five 'o' clock shadow, and a look of nervousness that couldn't be erased with the strongest of erasers. With trepidation, he changed out of him grimy orange jumpsuit and into a pair of jeans. The material felt almost foreign to his skin, as did the cotton of his white tee shirt. Ezra was used to the coarse material of his regulation clothing. Such luxuries like normal clothing were unfamiliar to him after a year. Ezra rubbed a hand over his prickly chin, stomach churning.

**Would she be there? **It was the question that Ezra repeated over and over to himself as he emerged from the stall and went through the necessary requirements to check out. The real world coming at an impeccable speed and Ezra wasn't sure if he was ready to be blown over by it. Rosewood seemed like a realm of abnormalities. The young man didn't want to dive back into it – he wanted to run.

Taking a deep breath as he got the final step, Ezra pushed open the door from the prison, feeling a ray of sunlight filter onto his face. He took a deep intake of breath, fresh air filling his lungs. It had been one of the greatest things Ezra had felt in a long time. Exhaling, he squinted, trying to look ahead. A small gathering clustered around the gates – family for the previous inmates to take them home. From where he stood, he could make out Hardy and his mother.

He could also make out a small brunette with a large pair of sunglasses standing nearby. It was all he needed to take off into a large gait, surpassing those taking their cautious time to get to their family members. Ezra had built up some muscle from doing mundane tasks around the prison – they had a bit more physical work to do rather than just reading, although he preferred that option from time to time. Working out allowed him to burn off pent up frustration due to the lack of information Hardy had given him about Aria over the course of three hundred-sixty five days. It was enough to drive a man crazy.

His gait turned into a sprint the closer he got towards the very end. "Aria," Ezra called out between huffs of breath. "Aria, you're here!" His voice was joyous, jubilant, and full of unbridled energy that Ezra seemed to be lacking only minutes before while changing in the small, cramped room made of cellblock. "Aria!"

Pressed up against the cold bars of the jail gate, Ezra could make out Hardy coming towards him at an alarming pace with a disapproving glare. Ezra's eyebrows knitted together, lips parted to call out Aria's name once more to grasp the small brunette's attention.

"Ezra," Hardy spoke at a hushed volume once they were within speaking distance. "It's not her." It explained Ezra's confusion as they brunette broke into a run much like his own minutes before in the direction of another inmate who ran towards her just as much.

His blue eyes flitted downwards for a moment, trying to push back unshed tears. Ezra didn't look at his mother who seemed to hold back in going forth towards her son. He didn't look at Hardy who had a sympathetic expression on his face. He didn't look at the couple beside him, the man now free and walking off with his lips pressed against his girlfriend's. Ezra didn't look at anyone – if he cried, it would save at least a shred of his dignity.

The cruel and honest fact lay straight in front of his face. Ezra Fitz hadn't been hardened by a lifestyle in prison for a year. If anything, his days on end in solitude made him more of a romantic with lush ideas of unsent letters to Aria flitting around in his head and a grand reunion of her waiting outside for him on the day he was set free. She would run to his arms much like she'd done in the past, rain breaking out overhead. Ezra was seal his mouth to hers in what would be a kiss derived of pure passion and longing. Nothing else in the world would be able to feel quite like it.

A moping, hopeless romantic he was, and yet his arms were empty except with the exception of pushing back the gate to be set free. "Right," Ezra mumbled. "She's not here." Four little words could mean so much. It was those four little words that seemed to shake Ezra Fitz's world and separate his dreams from reality. Dejection spread all throughout his body like a potent plague – Aria didn't want him. Maybe she didn't love him as fully as he'd thought she had.

With a shattered heart, Ezra waited for the gate to be pushed back. "C'mon, Man," Hardy spoke softly. "You'll be okay."

But Ezra wasn't quite sure if he ever could be anymore. The pursuit of his own happiness seemed even more out of reach than it was while he had been behind bars.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm absolutely overwhelmed with the response to this story! Please keep it up! I love to see your feedback and I'm really hoping you guys enjoy the journey I'm excited to share with you all. **

**Once again, I have to thank Lyndsey for helping me with the latter part of this chapter. **

**Please review! You've all been amazing with that!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing**

* * *

Ezra Fitz had concluded that the world was a cruel place when it had thrown its first curveball into his and Aria's relationship. He'd disliked some of the aspects of fate immensely when Aria broke up with him for the final time. But never had Ezra disliked the torture he now called his life as he stepped into the car to port him away from penitentiary. He thought he felt empty behind prison bars, but at least he had hope. Now he felt lost – what was he to do with himself now? Ezra had clung to the thought of Aria being the one to wait for him. Her being the one for him to sweep up into his arms and take her home to the small apartment Hardy had been keeping for him while he was away.

Now – Ezra had nothing.

He had the aesthetic things he needed as well as a mediocre freelance job that Hardy had managed to set up through his father's magazine despite Ezra's situation of supposed felony. He refused to look at what he had shared with Aria as a crime, but the rest of the world still did. The only thing he hoped was that his arrest had blown over in Rosewood and a new event had popped up in its place.

Strapping himself in, Ezra rested his cheek against the cool glass of the car window to soothe his clammy forehead. He was starting to feel sick with the plummeting feeling settling into his stomach. Lying down seemed like a good option, especially while he was clambering for the cushion of his mattress which had to be a relief for his back in contrast to the hard cot he had been given for a year. So did a glass of water and maybe some legitimate food.

"You alright?" Hardy looked over at him with a sympathetic glance. Ezra knew that he was biased in his opinion of Aria. He hated that she was the reason a good man had been locked away.

A wry smile, almost rueful covered Ezra's face. "You're really going to ask that?" His eyebrow arched upwards, eyes giving his friend a mechanical glance.

"Yeah, I am," the other man quipped. "Because you look either miserable or as if you're going to vomit – if it's the latter option, I'd appreciate it if you rolled down your window."

"Funny," Ezra said, rubbing his temples. His head was beginning to throb. Stress headaches were becoming more and more common in his life. "If you're insisting upon an answer, no, I'm not okay. And no, I don't want to talk about it because talking about it will only make reality even harsher."

He could see Hardy's knuckles turn white while gripping the steering world in frustration. "Ezra, you can't revolve you're life around one girl."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Hardy," Ezra said with a labored sigh. His throat was becoming tight, unshed tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He hated the burning sensation that came along with crying as well as feeling weak. And Hardy Mitchell was the last person Ezra Fitz wanted to feel weak in front of, especially while trying to defend himself. "She wasn't there. You try going a year, hoping and praying that the one person you hold dear still cares. Imagine that clinging to something like that is the only thing keeping you going while being locked up. It was devastating enough to realize that Aria doesn't give a shit about me. I don't need you rubbing it into my face too."

"I'm not rubbing it in your face. I'm only asking you a simple question – don't you think it's time to move on?"

"Not until I get closure." At least, that's what Ezra wanted Hardy to think. He wanted to see if he had a chance of winning her back before any form of closure.

The sound in the car fell silent except for the dim humming of the radio. For a free man, Ezra was miserable. He felt miserable and his body ached to hold the one thing that was out of his reach. "You really know nothing about how's she's been over the past year?"

Ezra could hear a heavy sigh come from his friend. "I'm a lawyer, not a private detective."

"I just thought –"

"You just thought what? That I'd be keeping tabs on her for you?" A harsh laugh fell from Hardy's lips, stinging Ezra's ears. "You honestly thought I'd be keeping tabs on the reason you were sent to jail? Christ, Ezra. I want nothing more than for Aria Montgomery to be out of your life. She's caused nothing, but heartache for you. I'm tired of seeing you moping around like some lost puppy dog. You're a free man now; **live your life**." His detest made Ezra's stomach churn – it now more upset than it had been minutes before.

Luckily, the car had pulled up to Ezra's apartment building. The air inside of the car was tense, teeming with frustration. "My life has always been with her. The sooner I find her and see her, at least once, I can get it back." With an open and slam of the car door, Ezra took the small duffel he'd carted with him. Hardy rolled down the window of the black sedan.

"I'll call you later," he said. Ezra couldn't protest – albeit being mad at him as a friend, he was still his lawyer. He nodded his head before going forth towards the building with baited breath. Ezra was ready for accusing stares and judgmental scoffs. Except there was nothing – people regarded him as if he'd been on a yearlong sabbatical. Short soft smiles and slight waves were what Ezra Fitz received as he made his way up towards the second apartment on the right on the building's third floor.

Apartment 3B – the tiny studio living space where love seemed to blossom in times gone by. Ezra could only hope that it wouldn't be damask and dark the moment he unlocked the door.

* * *

Ezra's hand skimmed over the smooth leather of his couch, the rich fabric cool and worn under the palm of his clammy hand. Only a few lights flickered in his apartment – he didn't want to overwhelm himself all at once with bright lights that shone upon every nook and cranny of his home. Memories of kisses and intimate affairs seemed to heap on the couch in one large pile. He swore Aria's scent still lingered there.

Although Hardy was supposed to be looking after his home, things were still almost as they were when Ezra left them. A water bottle rested on the kitchen counter. The same books were sitting on his coffee table. A copy of "Chinatown" rested on the floor from his and Aria's last movie night coin toss. There was a stack of clean dishes still resting in the sink and his shoes sat neatly in a row by his bed.

But there were the small things too; things that had been left by Aria before their demise. A crumpled up piece of rose-gold colored paper from her notebook with her swirly scrawl filling the lines. Her skull printed scarf draped over the arm of the couch that she'd neglected to take with her once she walked out his apartment. Her edition of _The Phantom of the Opera_ rested face down and open on a side table with a cracked spine. There was a cardboard coffee cup with remnants of her bright pink lipstick coating the side.

They were all things Ezra hadn't been able to clean up.

_He tossed an almost empty bottle of Aria's favorite red nail polish into the small trash bin in his hand. His mind flitted back to nights of headaches because of her constant nail painting and the putrid fumes of the removing solution to take previous coats off her nails. Perhaps Ezra disliked Aria paying more attention the state her nails were in instead of him, but he'd give anything to go back to that. His world would swing back in orbit just to have her sitting on his couch reading while he finished up something for work. _

_Ezra's whole daily system was rocked without Aria around. She had always been his constant factor, regardless of the tumult that they sometimes were thrown into. His home, his life had always felt warm with her around. Now it was cold and mechanical. He woke up, he showered, he worked, and he slept. It was the same routine that Ezra didn't put much thought into. _

_After the nail polish came her makeup wipes, her extra toothbrush and their shared tube of toothpaste. Her personal toiletries left in the bottom right hand drawer were gone as was her bottle of hairspray. There were small things Ezra couldn't bear to toss, like their paper bag masks from their first couple photo or a few rings she'd left in the bathroom cabinet. It wasn't closure, but it was enough. _

_A small tear felt down Ezra's face once his gaze shifted to a photo of himself and Aria on his nightstand – another thing he couldn't bring himself to get rid of. The incandescently happy looks on their faces made him wonder what went wrong, although Ezra wasn't in the right state of mind to venture into the workings of what tore their relationship apart. _

_He wasn't aware he was crying until a knock sounded on his door. It all happened too fast, like a blur. One moment he was cleaning up her trails, the other the police were escorting him outside with a pair of handcuffs digging into his wrists. _

_But Ezra Fitz didn't protest. What did he have left to lose anyways? _

He was tired of wondering and tired of wishing. There was only one thing Ezra could do to ease his mind, at least for the night, even if it meant venturing into the world of social media that he didn't know how to navigate all that well. His laptop had been on and humming for awhile now; Ezra had never seen more of a purpose for it until now. Booting up the dormant machine, he quickly pulled up his Facebook page. The stream of random updates from people he barely communicated with reminded Ezra why he never logged on unless it was to change his relationship status or post a picture or two.

His fingers flew across the keys. He typed _Aria Montgomery_ in record timing and the page almost brought him to her just as fast. His heart pounded against his chest as her profile picture appeared. She was smiling widely in a pair of high waisted shorts and a coral colored tank top. Her hair was a bit darker than Ezra remembered. Aria looked _happy_; a fact that both gutted him and made him smile at the same time. Her happiness was what mattered most in the world to him. But it killed him not to be the source of it.

Her information bar gave Ezra the current facts; currently living in Philadelphia as a student at UPenn, single, works at a bookstore – all things that he could see her doing while living out on her own. The only surprise that came to him was at how close to home Aria had stayed. She'd always talked about going off to New York or crossing the country to study at Berkley. At least she was only a train ride away.

Maybe he was crazy for going to find her, but he was crazy _for her_.

All Ezra needed to know was if she truly felt the same way or didn't want him to be part of her life anymore. He sincerely prayed that she was hiding whatever she felt in order to shield her heart.

But a photo on her timeline drew his attention away from all plans to arrange a train and hotel to Philadelphia. It kept him from calling Spencer or Hanna or Emily for help to win Aria back.

Tagged by none other than Spencer Hastings was Aria in the same outfit she was wearing in her profile picture. However, she wasn't sitting down and the pink fabric wasn't covering her stomach that not appeared to be swelled. Aria's hands were placed on her round stomach, beaming smile on her face. The caption simply read "Four months to go!" followed by a comment from Aria herself. Ezra's eyes flitted across the screen, trying to comb through to find whatever date the photo was posted on.

July 4th, 2013; five months after they'd broke up, five months after he'd gone to jail. His soothed stomach began to churn again.

The last photo Ezra clicked on was another of Aria tagged by Spencer. It was clearly dated four months later and featured a bedraggled, but radiant Aria lying in a hospital bed with a tiny baby in her arms. He could only make out a pink blanket and a shock of curly dark hair atop the baby's head before slamming down his computer screen. Ezra rubbed his temples while the world seemed to burst into various sparks around him.

Aria being pregnant didn't add up. It couldn't add up. It didn't make sense.

Or did it?

Ezra Fitz went to bed that night in his warm covers that seemed to welcome him home. But his dreams were invaded with uneasy thoughts of Aria Montgomery and his new discovery.

* * *

**Didn't see that coming, did you? I can promise you this is going to be unlike anything you've ever read.**


	3. Chapter 3

**You all have been so wonderful with reviews! I honestly can't thank you enough. Please keep it up! The more reviews, the faster and more inspired I am to write. Please stick with me for the ride that this story will be. I promise that it's all going to be worth it in the end! **

**I would answer a few questions left in reviews, but I don't want to spoil the story. I'll just say this - Aria isn't being selfish. She has her reasons for acting the way she does...which I'm sure you all are starting to see.**

**That's about it! Just remember to review! I love seeing what you guys have to say! Following/Favorite-ing is nice too!**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.**

* * *

_A soft voice floated a delicate "Good morning" through the sticky air of apartment 3B. It was a muggy and hot morning in the midst of August. Ezra could feel a small body curled up against his, their skin sticking together with only a cool sheet covering them both. Soft fingertips traced his lips as he parted them slightly to take a deep breath. A giggle sounded that was unmistakably Aria's. He smiled to himself in his cloudy, sleep-filled haze at the sound, relishing the way he knew her chest moved with a hearty laugh to the bell-like tone. _

_"Morning," he mumbled, voice thick and somewhat garbled. Ezra tightened his arms around her small frame to hold her closer. Letting Aria go, even in the early hours of the morning when she liked to make coffee, wasn't a viable option to him._

_A different sound came from the corner of his apartment. It wasn't Aria's chortling giggle or the rattling of an air conditioner. It pierced the summer air of the apartment with need that couldn't exactly be ignored. Ezra's sleepy eyes remained closed, despite the loud noise. However, Aria's small body wriggled away from his to stand on the small carpet by the side of his bed. "I'll get her," she spoke quietly, pressing a kiss to his temple. _

_It dawned on Ezra that it was a cry – a baby's cry laced with want for its parents. His eyes flew open, but when they did, his apartment wasn't the same as it had been when they were closed. It wasn't warm and intimate. It wasn't comfortable. _

_The apartment was barren and cold. Morning sunlight seemed to have been erased within seconds, replaced by a gray downcast sky that blocked light from entering the room. Ezra rubbed his eyes, gaze flitting around the room to find Aria. Perhaps she'd shut the curtains to accommodate the crying infant. But his deep blue orbs couldn't make her slight figure out in the dark. She didn't giggle. The child didn't cry._

_Aria was gone, the baby was gone. Everything was gone. _

Morning brought along a harsh amount of light, waking Ezra before he was even ready to be awake. His heart was racing under the tight, white tee shirt he'd worn to bed, his dream trapped in the corners of his mind. Aria had been close enough for him to touch, but disappeared the moment he'd opened his eyes. She'd made him let go before he was ready to – his subconscious was imitating his reality. Aria Montgomery had appeared to have pushed Ezra Fitz from her life, even going as far as deleting every photo that she had of them off Facebook.

Ezra's chest seemed to tighten, fraught with denial over the baby he'd found in her arms. It didn't seem possible for her to have been pregnant and at that degree after they'd broken up. They'd been safe when it came to being passionate in between the sheets of his double bed.

The word seemed to be hitting him with curveball after curveball – Ezra was only waiting for the moment they would break him or empower him to do something good…something worthwhile.

Running a hand over his chin, prickly stubble stung Ezra's fingers. He pulled them back abruptly – he never realized just how bad he needed a good shave. "Christ," he muttered before pushing up from his bed. "Jesus Christ." A look in the bright lighting in his bathroom showed him just how badly his whole appearance needed cleaning up. His hair needed a trim as did his face. There was more hair on him than there was when he had hit puberty.

His worthwhile task that morning was making himself over into the Ezra Fitz he recognized. By the time he stepped out of the spray of hot water pouring from his showerhead, he felt like a new man. Well, almost new – his heart still ached. But at least on the outside, he could fake that everything was fine, that he hadn't let himself go. The steam parted from all corners in the bathroom to reveal a clean shaven guy that he seemed to now place as himself. His hair still needed a bit of a trim, but he could do that later. A small sheen of stubble was still present, but not as bushy as it had been before.

Ezra gulped – it was his first step back into his own world.

The next would be finding Aria.

He knew going after her would answer his questions and aid his broken heart. Even if she turned him away, a glimpse of her perfect porcelain face would tide him over until the cracks paved clean. The spout of questions in his head was doubling over – Ezra needed some answers.

But most of all, he needed Aria Montgomery to be back in his life. She was still the center of his world, even when he didn't want her to be. She was the glimmer of hope in the dark, messy sea that was his life. Ezra was a man in the depths of desperation; even he admitted it to himself. He was a hopeless romantic, a man for which love came first above others. Aria was the thing he held onto dearly because when reality smacked him in the face; it only told him that Aria was his soulmate – the one he was supposed to spend his life with. And Ezra was damn determined to make sure she saw that too – regardless of whatever she could say or another jab to fracture his already split heart.

Grabbing his old edition of an iPhone, Ezra dialed the familiar number to Aria's home. His fingers shook as he pressed the touch screen's keypad, the notion of talking to Ella Montgomery, resident spitball of fire, making his nerves quake. It was even worse when she answered on the first ring.

"Ella," Ezra spoke quietly, hoping not to startle her.

"You can't be calling here." Her voice was clipped on the other end – too sharp for Ezra's liking. Before his arrest, they had finally begun to get along as well as they did before she knew about his and Aria's clandestine love affair.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I mean, Ezra. You can't be calling here." Each word was punched out with a great amount of diction and articulation. "I'm not going to tell you where she is. She needs to live her life _without _you."

"How did you know if I was even calling for that?" Ezra's voice shook, trying to get out words he couldn't usually find the courage to say to the older woman.

The line fell silent for minute, the quiet lingering on for what felt like hours upon hours. Ezra waited for Ella's clipped, restricted voice to come back and give him some witty answer that he couldn't give so much as a reply to. But the line continued to stay quiet until the dial tone went off. Angrily, Ezra ended the call and stuffed his phone into his pocket. If she wasn't going to tell him, then there was no shot in hell Spencer or one of Aria's other friend's would.

It just meant Ezra had to go about it himself.

* * *

One navy blue duffel bag and a piece of white paper that held Aria's address from an online address book (Ezra was baffled at how everything had translated into technology), he closed the door on his tiny little apartment. The gold 3B sign he'd tacked onto the door last year still gleamed as if it was brand new. Ezra pressed his fingers against the gold metal as if to say goodbye for now. He'd return home as soon as he could – if he even wanted to.

He didn't take an ounce of resolve to leave the apartment building and head towards the Toyota that Hardy had preserved for him out back. Ezra didn't feel the usual regrets sinking in once he made a major decision. The man used to go back and forth as to whether or not something was right or not, but going into Philadelphia felt undeniably **right**. Staying put would feel wrong.

The car engine started with a guttural revving noise, having not being used in over a year. Driving felt like something of an abnormality but one that Ezra accepted with open arms. There was a certain freedom as he sped out of the small town limits en route towards the big city.

_Day number twenty six was the first day Ezra had picked up a pen since his arrest. In rebellion of his apparent fate, he refused to write – hell he refused to talk unless it was needed. But upon suggestion from his inmate, a man wrongly accused of a felony he didn't commit, Ezra picked up the leather bound journal and fountain pen his mother had shipped to him in a care package. Their relationship was growing a bit stronger, Diane becoming more and more sympathetic to her son's feelings and situation. _

_"So you're gonna do it," Jeremy, the inmate, spoke. "You're gonna write." He rubbed a hand across his quickly growing stubble in observation_

_Ezra's nimble fingers sifted through the unmarked pages before stroking the soft, new leather that made up the cover of the journal. His hands were shaky, scared at whatever words would pour out onto the paper in his current state of heartbreak, confusion, and frustration. Twenty six days without writing so much as the word "and" or his own name. "Yeah," he said, turning the notebook over in his heads. "I think I am. It'll be a good way to get out frustrations." _

_Jeremy nodded his head before turning back to a book from the large stack his family had sent him. _

_Taking up the pen, Ezra opened to the first clean page of the journal. They were a rich cream color – no doubt was it an expensive purchase. He scribbled one word across the top of the page in the largest line. "Dear Aria" it read, but he couldn't find the words to go underneath the title. His intention was to write a letter, but writing to Aria would mean using up the entirety of the journal. There was so much he could say. One of two pieces of paper wouldn't cut it. Ezra wanted to know why she refused to defend him. He wanted to know why she hadn't visited. He wanted to know if she knew she was the reason he was locked up, but would never regret what they had. _

_But most of all, Ezra wanted to know if she still loved him. _

_With a great bout of resolve, Ezra put all his focus on the page in front of him. If he wanted to relieve himself of angry, pent up feelings that he couldn't quite say to her face, he'd write them down. And suddenly, the words to go underneath "Dear Aria" made sense and came pouring onto the page. _

An hour later, as an old _The Cure_ song played on the radio as Ezra pulled into the apartment complex that the address on the paper had given him. His stomach quaked with fear, knowing that in one of the illuminated windows above, Aria lived her day to day life. It was where she studied, where she woke up and went to sleep. It was where she had friends over and where she laughed. Perhaps it was where she cried from time to time. Ezra could hope he was the only reason for her occasional tears and not something more.

But the more he sat in the car, the more Ezra felt himself wanting to turn back and drive to Rosewood. It hit him at how much of a risky situation he was putting himself in. Yet, even as his nerves piled on, his mind flitted back to Aria – his Aria. And his mind went back to the photo of her and the baby, more determined than ever for answers.

He sucked in his fears and let courage shine through. Ezra Fitz wasn't going to live his life in shadows of his own doubt anymore. He was going to pursue his own happiness. Happiness came closer with every step he took up towards Aria's apartment. Happiness came closer with each light knock he gave on her door. Happiness came with the creaking of her door opening wide.

And happiness had finally arrived full stop as a shocked Aria Montgomery pulled open her apartment door.


	4. Chapter 4

**I honestly can't believe that this story has reached 70 reviews for only three chapters. You all are so incredible! Please keep it up! I honestly can't thank you enough. We're starting to get into the meat of the story, which is really exciting. I hope you guys are liking the ride so far!**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Ezra Fitz stood in the doorway of Aria Montgomery's Philadelphia apartment for what felt like hours, except they were only mere seconds. He took every opportunity to take in the landscaping of her face – the slope of her nose, her exotic bone structure, and her_ eyebrows_. Her lips were still plump and heart shaped, although they'd managed to contort themselves into a taught line. Her eyes still retained their wide, hazel colored characteristics. They seemed to gleam towards Ezra, brighter than the stars that had started to peek out above in the night sky.

But Ezra Fitz loved Aria Montgomery so much so that it continuously clouded his vision. It was to the extent that he didn't see the bags that gathered one by one under her eyes. There was a tiny splotch of dried baby spit up on the shoulder of her white tee shirt. She wasn't dressed as impeccably as she used to be, more so for comfort than for show. Her hair was lighter due to inconsistency between dye colorings and it looked as if it hadn't been washed in a day.

After his eyes had roved over her features did he start to see the little imperfections of Aria's appearance. However, none of it seemed to matter to Ezra. What did take precedence was her tiny, albeit slightly curvier, body standing in front of him.

"Ezra?" It seemed like her voice caressed his name. The fear in her eyes finally seemed to register with Ezra, making his stomach plummet to the floor. "What're you doing here?"

Aria didn't appear to be overjoyed that he was standing at her front door, much less happy about it either. Instead, she seemed annoyed...scared even. It was far from the tear ridden reunion he'd imagined in his head; the type of reunion where she'd run into his arms and never let him go. Aria wedging herself between the door and the door frame, or at least trying her best to do so, made it seem that any tear inducing, heartfelt exchange was out of the question.

"You can't be here."

Ezra blinked his eyes a few times, her statement not quite registering with him yet. He was clinging to that tiny bit of hope still. "Aria, what're you talking—"

She bit down on her bottom lip, Ezra noted. Much like she always did when she was nervous. "I don't have to repeat myself." Her hand held tightly onto the door, ready to close it at a moment's notice.

The tension between the two of them was thick – too thick. But the precious hope that seemed to last Ezra Fitz over a year and a half shattered like glass. The trembling of Aria's bottom lip and her practically white knuckles all emanated the fear that seemed to be staring back at him.

Aria Montgomery was afraid of him. Dealing with that was something Ezra wasn't prepared for. Neither was the tiny baby rattle that Ezra could see resting on the floor in the tiny sliver of a crack that he could make out between Aria's body and the door frame. A small white and pink, flower shaped rattle that confirmed his suspicions about the baby in her Facebook photo.

"Can you at least let me come in? It's late…I drove all the way here." He hoped that it would be enough grounds for her to let him inside. "You have to let me explain. You don't know the whole thing."

"Oh, I know everything, Ezra. The papers made it very clear as to who you are and what you were doing."

He stood with his mouth gaping open like a fish out of water. Ezra hadn't read the papers after his arrest, but from Aria's tone it didn't seem like anything that would paint him in a bright, incandescent light. "Will you please just let me inside? Let me explain?"

The increment of five seconds that it took for Aria to move aside and push open the door felt like five years. Ezra waited with baited breath. Part of him felt like the whole thing was a hoax – Aria couldn't be afraid of him. She wasn't afraid of him when they had first started their relationship, if anything he was afraid of her and her headstrong nature. Any second she would launch herself in his arms and kiss all around his face like the shock had finally registered.

Except it didn't; the moment Ezra stepped foot into Aria's tiny two bedroom apartment, she stayed as far away from him as possible. He sat on the plush patterned sofa while she stood in the kitchen, toying with unwashed mugs in the sink. He took a moment to look around the apartment. Ezra noticed the pictures and various pieces of artwork that rested on any inch of free space. Much to his dismay, there were none of him – Aria Montgomery had wiped her life clean of Ezra Fitz.

He also noticed the baby toys that were scattered here and there and the playpen that rested in the far corner away from the window. It was more permanent looking than a simple babysitting job. When he shifted his gaze back to the kitchen, Aria was gone from the sink area and was cleaning up the toys instead, hiding them behind her back as if she hoped he hadn't seen them.

There was no offering of coffee or something cold to drink after coming inside from the warm weather. She didn't sit down next to him as if he were real company. It was almost as if Ezra was some decoration in Aria's apartment while she went about her nightly tasks. The only sound was the rippling of flimsy darkly patterned curtains due to an open window.

"Explain," Aria spoke, dropping the toys into a bin and kicking it aside into a shadow. "Before I make you leave because you really shouldn't be here right now."

Ezra's sweaty palms rested on the knees of his pants. "You don't need to repeat yourself, Aria. Let me talk before you decide if I should really be around or not."

"You-," she started, but Ezra cut her off.

"Stop." Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his unruly hair – a nervous habit that Aria used to love. Ezra could remember the way she used to do it for him while they laid in bed in the mornings. "You never came," he said carefully. "You never visited. Hell, you didn't even testify in court."

"That doesn't explain why you're here," she spoke, moving to the other side of the room – as far away from as she could get, he noted.

"I need answers, Aria. One moment we were incredibly happy. The next we're over and I'm being escorted out of my apartment in handcuffs and you fall off the face of my world."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to walk into the Grille to pick up an order and see everyone reading headlines that said _High School Teacher Arrested for Relations with a Student_? To walk around Rosewood and hear whispers that circulated all around me? To actually pick up an article and see you labeled as a pedophile and read that you _used _me? I never thought it was possible when we were together, but the media publicized far too many of my greatest fears to the extent that they were all coming true. I kept my distance, Ezra, because _I _couldn't be a part of your life anymore. And you couldn't be a part of mine."

"It's not up to you to decide if you should be in my life or not."

"It wasn't Rosewood's decision to make either, but they did anyways."

Another tense silence lasted between the two. Aria moved towards him slightly, now closer to the coffee table than the breakfast bar on the other side of the apartment. Ezra opened his mouth to speak, wanting a way to retaliate back, but he was too confused to come up with a proper remark. Nothing seemed to make sense.

"Rosewood's decision?"

"Yeah," Aria replied, wiping under her eye. It killed Ezra to see her cry so much as a singular tear and not be able to do a single thing about it. "Did you even read the papers?"

Ezra shook his head. "I just got let out, Aria. I haven't had the time to go through the daily news archives."

"Not even while you were…._away_?"

"Nope."

She took a shuddering breath, hands gripped in fists at her sides. "You were a bad man for a good six months, Ezra. Eventually, it started to pass. But everywhere I went, people were whispering. People were calling you a pedophile or a predator and looking my way. And then they started to converge on me. Even my own parents." A wry chuckle escaped Aria while she shook her head and wiped another tear from under her eye. "You have no idea how awful it was to have my parent's give the proverbial _I told you so_ over something I had fought so hard for – something I once thought was so sacred and special."

_Once_.

_Once_ as in the past tense. _Once _as in the past.

Ezra inhaled deeply, waiting for the scream he wanted to let out subside. He felt stupid, stupid for ever thinking things could be the same – stupid for thinking Aria would love him the same way, much less love him at all. "So you believed them."

"You weren't there to negate it. You were in _jail_." Her tone grew louder, almost to a shout of independence and clarity.

The word cut him like a knife, splitting Ezra into tiny pieces of what had been a courageous man. It had taken too much for him to make his way into the city, only to hear his worst nightmare come true within Aria's speech. "You know," he said, his voice low and tense. "I expected this from your father. I expected this from your mother. I expected this from the whole town. But the last person I ever expected to feed into lies was _you_."

"Are you saying I never believed in us from the first place?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"You couldn't be more wrong," she said, closing off the conversation.

Ezra rose off the couch, walking a few paces over towards Aria. He had been expecting her to back up and move away, but she stood stoically in her spot near the coffee table, tears dripping down at a faster rate now than one at a time, and eyes dilated in a transfixed fashion. His face remained emotionless – there was nothing potentially readable to tell her how he was feeling. But Ezra knew how he felt; he felt betrayed by the once person he had always installed so much trust in.

And yet, here he was, walking towards his betrayer with the intention to dry her tears away. He hated himself, but at the same time applauded himself for the courage to go near her and attempt to break down whatever wall that Aria had built up around herself for over the past year.

The closer Ezra moved, the more he anticipated Aria to back up. But once he was within reach to her, it appeared that she wouldn't be moving anywhere anytime soon. "Aria," he said softly, reaching out to brush away the tear that carved a watery path down her cheek. Ezra's fingertips brushed over Aria's skin, relishing the feeling after so long even if it was something so small. Her lips parted as he wiped the tear away, but she remained silent.

Pulling his hand away, Ezra found himself successful. Perhaps he'd broken down the wall after all? Moving a big closer, he reached out again with a different gesture in mind. But fate didn't intend him to be so successful in the endeavor he was going for.

"Don't," Aria yelled out, her eyes loosing the mesmerized glaze, fear shooting back into them. Ezra drew away, the room now quieter than a library after the librarian gave a scolding on noise.

And then a wail broke out. A tiny, churlish wail that could only belong to the baby who's toys were stuffed into a box in the corner of the room and who's bottles were resting on the drying wrack by the sink.

"Crap," Aria muttered, starting to move towards the nursery until she froze. "You need to leave."

Ezra ignored her, curiosity taking over his thought process. "Is that her?"

The crying continued as a breathless Aria stood in front of Ezra. She blinked her eyes wildly. "What're you talking about?" Her voice shook, reminding Ezra that he wasn't supposed to know she had a baby. He mentally smacked himself upside the head – he'd ruined enough already.

"H—Hardy said he heard around town that you had a baby."

Aria bit down on her lip, perhaps with harder pressure this time. Ezra could see the small cracks that dry lips caused. "Yeah, that's her," she resolved. "The result of a fling in order to forget _you_. But it's time for you to go because I have. You're a thing of my past, not my future. I don't need any more trouble. Neither do you."

It took seconds for Ezra Fitz's heart to crumble into a state of being nonexistent. Something inside of him made a cracking noise followed by a sharp pain – was this what it felt like to have your heart broken? His face contorted into something that resembled the preamble of a sob, but Ezra held it in. He wouldn't cry, he _couldn't _cry.

"I'll be out of your hair then," he said softly. Aria didn't reply. She didn't make a sound as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. When Ezra turned around to say his last goodbye, she was gone and the wailing had quelled into soft gurgles. He took a final look around the apartment where his happiness seemed to be smattered upon the walls before opened the door with a sharp twist of his wrist.

While Ezra drove his way home in a silenced car, he refused to think about Aria. He wouldn't think about it her anymore if it was what she wanted. He wouldn't push her.


	5. Chapter 5

**I honestly cannot thank you all enough for the wonderful reviews you've been leaving. We're almost to 100 and it's only five chapters so far! Please spread the word about this story! And keep up the reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I OWN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Not even the _A Farewell to Arms _quotes.**

* * *

_Isolation_ – it screamed at Ezra the moment he unlocked the car door and stepped out into the parking lot of his favorite bookstore just on the edge of town. The face of the leather banded watch on his left wrist said it was only 9:30, but it felt like he was stuck in some realm where it was a perpetual midnight. Ezra felt his heart chipping away, leaving only the vital life giving necessities he needed. He wouldn't have minded if even those stopped working at the moment. Aria had been his light at the end of the tunnel, his reason for trudging day in and day out. But even she was gone now. And the baby; the slightest hope that she could be his was smattered.

The streets were quiet, only a few cars whizzing past him as they sped down the interstate. Watching them, Ezra toyed with the notion of running away. He could write his magazine articles from anywhere – keep his work life and start a new personal one. The adrenaline of a car moving fast down a paved road with the windows wide open to let the cool air blow in was tantalizing. He'd drive to God knows where and begin his life again. It's what Aria would've wanted. It's what Ezra supposed he needed.

Yes, running away was childish. But what good was it to stay in a place where there wasn't much left for him? _Exactly_, Ezra concluded. _There's nothing good._

He'd make the necessary arrangements in the morning. Saying goodbye to Rosewood would close the door on the chapter of his life that Ezra wished hadn't been destroyed. He'd hoped it would have been the final chapter.

The dull bell tone of his entrance caused a few patrons to look up. But none of them gave Ezra the roving eye or the look of distaste. Not the older woman with her spectacles sliding down the smooth slope of her nose. Not the college student sitting in Ezra's favorite plush backed chair with a text book splayed onto his lap. Not even the owner, who'd been his close confidante for all things specific to life.

"It's been a long time." The elderly man with pristinely white hair looked up from the book he had cracked open on the counter. "How've you been?"

Ezra blinked his eyes a few times, trying to detect any judgment that could be hidden in the owner's voice. "It has been, hasn't it, Jim," he replied, ambling over to the counter. "Truthfully, I've been feeling pretty crappy."

"It's not as if you don't have grounds to feel so." Jim raised a white eyebrow and flipped the page of his book. "For the record, I believed your pleas of innocence. You're a romantic, not a villain."

"I wish I didn't feel like the latter," Ezra said. "I think I might be leaving town. There's nothing here for me anymore."

"Not even her?"

Ezra shook his head, tears pooling in the crevices of his eyes. "Not even her," he confirmed before pushing away from the counter. A book would be his best distraction from the night that managed to blow up right in his face. It felt like the whole affair had been shards of glass that punctured his skin the moment things started to go wrong – actually, the moment he opened the door to a fearful Aria. Ezra caught the sympathetic smile Jim gave him as he was turning away.

He didn't want sympathy. He didn't want condolences. He didn't want judgment. Ezra wanted Aria, hell he even wanted the baby.

Except life couldn't be that simple.

It couldn't be as simple as _Pride and Prejudice_, the book he picked up after scanning the classics bookshelf for a bit. Life wasn't some quintessential romance where the two protagonists fall passionately in love and live happily ever after in a large England estate. Romance didn't work like that. Love worked tragically like _A Farewell to Arms_, the next book Ezra slid out from its place on the shelf.

_"God knows I didn't mean to fall in love with her."_

Ernest Hemmingway had the right idea – nobody means to fall in love with anyone. And when they do, they don't expect things to go awry. Ezra had expected the _Pride and Prejudice_-like ending for himself and Aria, albeit they lived in a townhouse in New York City instead of a large mansion in England that carried its own title. The unexpected ending was what had been tossed at him without any instructions on how to deal with it. There wasn't a guide manual for a broken heart.

Ezra desperately wished someone had written one. He'd been hurt in the past, had his heart toyed with. But nothing ever felt like the pain that gutted him now.

Not only had whom he thought to be the love of his life not want to be around him anymore, but Ezra held the baggage that she'd moved on in a snap after he'd been locked away. He had to live with knowing that Aria's child wasn't his after all, unlike the things that his dreams consisted of. That baby girl was a part of her and _someone else_ – a thought that made Ezra want to be sick.

In his hands were the two books, but Ezra knew which one he was going to take home. He wouldn't feed into the sappy romance his heart used to clamor for. Instead, he'd settle for tragic. Perhaps the manual was hidden in there.

Ezra slid _A Farewell to Arms _across the smoothly polished countertop towards Jim. "Metaphorical, isn't it," Ezra asked the older man with a wry smile.

A farewell to arms, indeed.

"Not in your case," Jim spoke, eying Ezra carefully as he punched the serial number for the book into the computer. The necessary transaction between shopper and cashier took only two flying seconds before Jim handed the book back to Ezra in a plain, brown paper bag. "Good luck, Ezra."

* * *

_"I did not love Catherine Barkley nor had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards. Like bridge you had to pretend you were playing for money or playing for some stakes. Nobody had mentioned what the stakes were."_

Turning the crisp page of his book, Ezra immediately regretted choosing the one he did. This wasn't tragic ridden; it was sappy with an upsetting ending. He didn't he see the manual to moving past a broken heart – instead Ezra found quotes that mirrored the way he felt about Aria. With a grimace, he wished he'd bought a horror novel.

_"Why, darling, I don't live at all when I'm not with you."_

Angrily, Ezra chucked the novel across the expanse of his apartment. He watched as the cover bounced against the wall and fell open on the floor with a thud. The spine was cracked and paged folded over, but he didn't care. He wouldn't pick up _A Farewell to Arms _again, or at least while they world seemed to hate him with one plaguing emotion after another.

He was leaving – that much he knew. Rosewood would be a memory that would be cast and locked into the vaults of his mind. No longer would Ezra sit around in an apartment that seemed to have memories plastered on the wall as if they were posters his teenager self had tacked up for the world to see. There even was a crack on the blue covered wall above his bed where Aria had attempted to hang a photo of the two of them.

Thank God she hadn't or the frame would've been in shards on Ezra's hardwood floor.

She had moved on. She had a daughter. And in consequence, Ezra would move on too.

Grabbing a blue polyester duffel bag down from the top shelf of his closet, Ezra threw it onto his bed where the covers lied untouched. With his sleepless night before, it seemed he wouldn't be able to spend a proper in what used to be his home. Then again, what was a proper night for Ezra without Aria curled up beside him?

He began to shove shirt after shirt into the bag, not caring if they were to be wrinkled or in a massive state of disorder once he reached his destination, wherever it may be. It wasn't till he got to the bottom of his drawer that Ezra's heart clenched tightly.

A tiny white tee shirt rested at the very bottom, crumpled up. There was no way it could fit him, especially with the girlish formation that it had been made in. Untwisting the garment, Ezra raised it to his nose. Silently, he prayed that it was Jackie's and had somehow gotten mixed into his wardrobe years ago when he was in college. But it wasn't. It was scented with lavender, honeysuckle, and a hint of coffee.

_Aria's_.

The least he could do was take it with him. Ezra vowed he wouldn't keep photos of her any longer, but he'd take the shirt; for safe keeping of course. It was the only thing he folded neatly and rested on top of all the clothes in the bag before zipping it carefully so the white tee shirt wouldn't get caught and ruined. Once Ezra left, it would be the only memento he would have of her.

His drawers were clean, his box of savings emptied out into a small safe that he tucked away in his car. Ezra's apartment was almost bare, except for his bookshelf and the various decorations from his world travels before going to college. He lifted the bag up onto his shoulder, ready to pack up his car when a dull ringing sounded from the pocket of his jeans. With a groan, he tugged it out and pressed answer without looking at the caller ID.

"Ezra?"

The duffel bag went falling to the floor with a thud as he stood there in shock.

"Ezra? Are you there? Maybe I have the wrong number of something."

"Aria," he said quickly and quietly, finding his voice within seconds. "Aria, why are you calling so late?" Ezra turned to look towards the clock that rested on his nightstand. The red numerals blared 2:02.

"I…um…I really needed to hea-," she said before cutting herself off. He could detect the thickness in her throat as she spoke. Hearing Aria on the verge of tears made his heart ache. _ I know_, he said to himself. _I needed to hear you too_.

Instead of going with the words he meant to say, Ezra opted to go with a much safer alternative than saying he needed to hear her voice. "Are you okay?"

"No," Aria replied softly. It felt like old times – times when she'd call him if she couldn't fall asleep or a project was stressing her out; times when both Aria and Ezra saw him as her savior. "I couldn't get her to go to sleep…she kept crying. And once I got her down, I couldn't sleep." Her voice was laced with exhaustion. "I was wrong to kick you out like that," she admitted. Ezra felt like the air had been knocked out of his windpipe. "You only wanted to make amends and I kicked you out."

"It's alright, Aria," Ezra chided, although he really wasn't. He was still stinging from her comments about him not being a part of her life anymore.

"It's not," she replied softly. "It was wrong of me and I should've been more polite about it."

Ezra chuckled softly to himself – only Aria would worry about being polite after kicking a man out of her home.

"Ezra, I know I hurt you. And I understand if you don't want to be around me or you hate me after the things I said to you, but I'd like to…I'd like to try and be friends." Aria finally broke down into tears on the other end of the line. Although he couldn't hold her to quell her sorrows, Ezra could give her one thing; an answer.

"Okay," he said replied. He swore he could hear her smile over the phone.

He didn't know where her words had come from, nor did he know the motivation behind them. But suddenly, Ezra Fitz had a reason to stay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Can I just say how much I love all of you for your constant support and all the reviews. This story is over 100 and it's only on it's sixth chapter. I honestly can't thank all of you enough. Please keep reviewing and recommending this story to their friends if they're interested in Ezria! **

**And a major thanks to Lyndsey for her help with this chapter - it wouldn't be anything without her. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.**

* * *

The strains of an unknown indie rock song awoke Ezra Fitz rather than the pitter patter of rain against his window. He'd blocked out external sounds in the early morning after a year of grating yells and alarms in penitentiary. Fingers grasping the pillow, he stretched the down feather filled accessory over his head before arching his back upwards to sit in the typical position of a man getting out of bed. Ezra's rather large feet dangled off the edge of the bed before touching the sliver of hardwood floor that spanned between his bed frame and the tribal carpet next to it.

With bleary eyes, Ezra pulled his feet step by step towards the kitchenette in his apartment, the coffee maker in his direct line of vision. He'd need a cup or two to push away the seemingly everlasting headache that encompassed his brain. While the rich dark liquid dripped into the pot, Ezra sat at his tiny breakfast bar, staring at nothing. His mind didn't often process things after just waking it, but he liked it – it was nice not to be in a constant state of worry from the moment he roused to the exact time he went to sleep.

His coffee machine dinged just as his phone buzzed. The name across the screen of the phone was enough to make Ezra's need for coffee subside for two seconds. Aria Montgomery's name popped up with the requisite bubbles that held her text message lying underneath.

_Do you want to try to…hang out, for lack of a better word, today?_

It didn't matter to Ezra that it wasn't a very personal message, nor did it seem to be one that she felt confident in. The thing that mattered was that Aria had taken a step towards him rather than taking a step backwards.

_Of course; what time?_

Maybe his reply was a bit too eager. And so what if he'd texted back within mere seconds of Aria's first message. Ezra's road had been choppy – the sense of landing on one that was somewhat paved or on the way to being fixed was enough to make him jump.

Suddenly, coffee wasn't very important anymore. Finding clothes, however girlish the notion might be, was.

* * *

After the hour that Ezra took to find the right attire for a mid-rainy day hangout, he climbed up the steps to Aria's Philadelphia apartment whilst tugging at his lightweight navy sweater. The rain and gloomy clouds that hung above were sufficiently enough to make the outside world chillier than it needed to be. He'd never noticed the rich cream walls that lined the hallways or the slightly scuffed marble steps that were underneath his feet – Ella or Byron, perhaps both, must have paid for Aria's home.

Hand raised in preparation to knock, Ezra could hear the tidbits of conversation filtering under Aria's apartment door. He withdrew his curled up fist, pushing his ear up to the door as best he could to hear the scuffle going on inside.

"Let me make my own decisions for once," he could hear Aria murmur in a tense whisper.

The terse voice that could only belong to his once colleague and friends, Ella Montgomery, had a rebuttal in response. "And you see how well that went over the last time."

"It's different now, Mom."

"It's not," Ella spoke. "He's still the same man, except now he has a year of prison to show for who he is under his belt."

Ezra heard shaky sigh before footsteps in the direction of the door. "I'm going to check to see if he's here." Biting his lip, he retraced his steps to make it look like he had just come up rather than listening to the conversation, or rather the end of it, which had transpired only seconds before.

"Hey," Aria waved towards him as he rounded the corner. Ezra gave a short wave back, unsure of his footsteps. Seeing her so amicable made him nervous – Aria being friendly to him after the turbulence that their relationship had been over the week was too good to be true. But he knew she was too much of a genuine person than to hide how she felt about a person.

She shut the door behind her, seemingly ignoring the drifting statement Ella had made from inside. "Hey yourself," Ezra replied, passing a hand through his unruly hair once more.

The two stood in silence for a moment or two, but it wasn't the comfortable type that seemed to last years ago while watching movies on the couch or the quiet domesticity of her doing her homework, feet propped up in Ezra's lap, while he typed away on his laptop. It felt awkward and uncomfortable, neither of them knowing what to say to one another. Ezra took the opportunity to let his eyes rove over Aria. She wore a soft muted pink sweater and a pair of jeans that were accompanied by high boots. The color accented her porcelain skin. Thankfully their silence gave him the allowance to appreciate that.

Aria coughed slightly. It felt like hours had gone by when in reality it was only a minute of quiet. "So what were you thinking of doing today?"

Ezra picked up on how her friendliness had faded into a bundle of nerves that might as well have been painted on Aria's forehead. Something changed within their minute of silence. What it could be, he had no idea.

"I was thinking we could see a movie. A couple good ones are out."

"None of them catch my interest," she mumbled in response.

"Coffee?"

"Already had two cups this morning."

He remembered Aria being difficult and stubborn, but never to the extent where she refuted all his offers. They'd always compromised on something, whatever the activity could possibly be. How were they supposed to spend time together when she didn't appear to want to do anything with him?

"Is there anything you wanted to do today," Ezra asked lightly, tugging at the thin sweater he wore. By the end of the day, he'd probably stretch out the hem.

Aria's face twisted in thought before a relived look played out onto her face. The breath that Ezra hadn't noticed he took released with an air of relief. "Grocery shopping," she said. His eyebrows tugged together into a furrow to expose his confusion at such a strange place for an outing. "It's not easy to get errands down with a baby," Aria defended, the hint of a smile playing at the curve of her lips, though her eyes never met his. Ezra was still sold within seconds.

* * *

_"Could you push the damn thing any faster," Aria chimed behind Ezra as they walked down the aisle of downtown Rosewood's only super market. "I'm going to kick you." _

_Ezra's lips perked into an amused smile while he slowed down his turtle's pace of pushing the cart. Irritating her was one of his favorite activities, mainly because a flustered Aria was a cute Aria. _

_"You're so threatening," he quipped, turning down the produce aisle. His apartment was running dangerously low on the essentials – Aria loved a batch of blackberries in the morning before school just as Ezra took an apple with him on his way out. _

_Within seconds, Aria stood on the opposite end of the cart, pushing it to a halt. "You don't want to see me get threatening, Fitz," she spoke at a deathly low tone. "Because I can threaten no sex for a week and I don't think you want that." _

_"You're so cute when you're frustrated," Ezra said, completely ignoring her threat. His hand cupped her chin, tilting it towards him so that their lips brushed gently against one another. "Besides, you couldn't resist me if you tried," he whispered, pressing his lips against hers. Aria's response was enough for Ezra to gather that no sex for a week wouldn't ever be an issue._

* * *

Philadelphia had a few hundred more grocery stores than Rosewood did; the perks of a city. Ezra had still been avoiding going into his local one downtown for fear of accusing looks. Jim had been fair, but the rest of Rosewood was something he wasn't entirely sure of. Aria's tiny silver Prius pulled up in front of an A&P in the wake of a quiet car ride. The two had attempted to make small talk, but it eventually fell short and the radio soaked up the silence, but not the tension.

The truth was that they didn't know each other enough now to make small talk, however mundane it might be. But Ezra was determined to get that back. He missed the easiness of conversation with Aria.

"You coming," she asked, opening the door. The quiet seemed to settle back in just as easily.

"Of course," Ezra replied, unbuckling his seat belt and pushing open the passenger door. "So, what're we picking up today?"

"_I_ need to pick up the essentials; blackberries, a couple apples, chicken to put and save in the freezer, rice…" Her voice tensed as she rattled onto the last article that she needed to pick up. "Baby food."

Ezra nodded his head. "Gotcha." Something that could feel domestic felt out of place within seconds. He hated it. "Shall we?" He'd already pulled a cart. "I'll push."

"Thanks," Aria replied, the hint of a smile appearing again. So far, her two half grins were enough to light up the dreary sky that was cast above them.

A gust of cold air blew past Aria and Ezra as they entered the grocery store, making her shiver in her lightweight sweater. Ezra felt the urge to tug off his own and shelter her from the temperature; however that probably wouldn't go over well as a seemingly romantic gesture. He'd probably be escorted out and mortify his female counterpart for the afternoon more than she appeared to be.

Ezra clicked his tongue against his teeth, searching for something to say. "So you still have blackberries every morning," he mustered up, pushing the cart towards the large open floored produce section.

"You remembered." Her voice was withdrawn – even the expression in her eyes conveyed that Aria was in an entirely other place. Ezra remembered their past grocery runs filled with teasing and fooling around in the aisles. To realize how drastically things had changed was heartbreaking for him, so he simply pushed it into the back of his brain.

"Of course I did," Ezra replied softly, grabbing two cartons off the refrigerated shelf and placing them gingerly into the cart. "You were my morning routine for the better part of two years, Aria. Things like that don't just erase the moment you're arrested."

Almost immediately, he wished he had kept his mouth shut and dwelled in the silence. A look something Ezra couldn't quite place flashed across Aria's face, her eyes cast downwards. He felt like someone had punched him in the gut – hell, Ezra wished someone had to keep him from talking anymore.

"Right," she muttered, pushing past him to grab a handful of apples and stuff them into a plastic bag. "You know why I buy apples? Because it was a part of your morning routine too – don't think I've simply erased things about you from my mind, Ezra. Because I haven't, no matter how much I wish I could."

Ezra's hands went slack, trying to find the traction to hold onto the handle of the cart. They kept slipping though, just as he could feel Aria slipping from the somewhat good place they'd been in when she texted him earlier that morning.

The rest of the grocery shopping trip was filled with tension. Aria wouldn't look at him no matter how many times Ezra murmured her name with an apology at the tip of his tongue or whenever he handed her something on her list of things she needed. She wouldn't even let him pick up a jar of baby food. And when it came time to pay, she shoved her credit card towards the cashier before Ezra could do something gallant and offer to pay for her.

Driving back to the apartment didn't make the atmosphere change. If anything, being in closer quarters made it get worse. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to come up," Aria spoke finally as they pulled into her parking spot. "I'm not sure if today was a good idea at all – it feels more like a mistake."

"I don't think it was," Ezra said defiantly, opening his door.

"It was," Aria said affirmatively. "I'll call you, alright? Don't bother with the groceries; I've got it." He watched as her tiny hands gathered up the few bags that held her purchases and as Aria scuttled into the building, shutting the door behind her with her foot.

She'd slipped again – but this time, it was truly his fault.


	7. Chapter 7

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* * *

Ezra had never been partial to roller coasters. The up and down sensation always made something unpleasant coil in the deepest depths of his stomach. Most of the time, it ended in sickness where he'd spend the rest of the carnival in the restrooms while his friends cavorted across the fairgrounds with their plastic bagged goldfish won from games and candy apples. After graduating high school, Ezra did his best to avoid roller coasters, even if it earned him the title of "Pansy" in college.

However, the roller coaster that was Aria Montgomery was one that Ezra couldn't seem to pull himself away from. Unbuckling the seat belt and raising the lock bar was physically impossible, even if the dropping feeling increased with every twist and turn. He knew she was growing to be hazardous to his health, but stepping off onto a safe platform didn't appear to be in Ezra's future.

Aria's Facebook profile hovered on his laptop screen, resting on a picture of a tiny baby foot complete with a lace bootie. Ezra's eyes narrowed in, hoping that something in the lace would give the father's identity away. But he knew what the world said about hope. He scrolled through her interactions, eager to see if she had said anything about him that would allow Ezra to get back in her good graces. But nothing mentioned his name – a stark contrast from Aria's profile a year ago.

Fingers drumming anxiously against the keys of his computer, Ezra groaned in frustration. He couldn't understand what had made Aria shut down on him in the middle of the grocery store or what had made her so scared of him in the first place. They'd made promises in the past, but they were all broken and smashed to smithereens with a hypothetical hammer.

* * *

_One tiny hand encased in his, Ezra's fingers threaded with Aria's as they lay on his bed in the lazy afternoon heat of August. Her cheek rested against his chest, his free hand threading through her hair gently. Moments in the middle of silence were Ezra's favorite – it was nice to know that they didn't always need words to be comfortable with one another. _

_"Promise me you'll never run away," Aria spoke suddenly, pressing a soft kiss over his heart through Ezra's white tee shirt. _

_"Promise me you'll always be by my side, no matter the odds," Ezra countered, kissing the top of her forehead. The oncoming silence was enough to seal their words to a binding inner contract._

* * *

"You to give it a rest," said a voice from over Ezra's shoulder. Quickly, he slammed the laptop screen shut and glanced over his shoulder to see Hardy standing behind the coffee house couch with a disapproving stare. He'd forgotten about their meet-up, consumed by thoughts of Aria and theories of logical reasons for her behavior. And the occasional posts and pictures had served as distractions too.

Ezra bit his lip. He wanted to lean forwards and reach for a cup of coffee, but it was a lackluster realization that there wasn't one in front of him. "I know," he replied, tapping his fingers on the closed screen on his computer in order to have something to do with his idle hands.

"You know, but I don't see you doing anything."

"What do you want me to do, Hardy," Ezra breathed out, unable to find his voice as the anger and frustration built up in his system. "She's acting weird – there has to be a reason for it. What kind of a friend would I be if I just let that go?"

"You're not even her friend," Hardy said. The statement cut Ezra like the most searing of knives because it was true. He wasn't Aria's friend and at this rate would never be if she continued to push him away. "The way Aria sees it; you're just some guy who's still hanging around. I'm sorry for the tough love, Ezra, but you need to wake up and smell the potent coffee."

Ezra's jaw hung open for a moment, dangling in complete shock. He'd known Hardy to be brash, but never this blatant. His brain couldn't process an impacting retort and he watched as a smug look crossed Hardy's face. He'd won – they both knew it.

"Ezra Fitz?"

The girlish voice was enough to make Ezra and Hardy's heads whip around. In her long legged and blazer glory, Spencer Hastings stood at the lip of the door, brown eyes widening as she took in Ezra on the couch. He gulped – she had to think he was a creep too. Considering she had always been Aria's close confidante, Ezra was sure she'd told Spencer the gory details of the past day.

Spencer took a few steps forward, the fear in Ezra's eyes growing bit by bit. He barely looked over to see the calculating look on Hardy's face while his eyes roved her body up and down. "S—Spencer," Ezra managed to sputter out. "Look, I know what you're probably going to say and…"

She bent down and wrapped his upper half in the most genuine hug Ezra had ever received in a long time. "It's so good to see you," she chortled, pulling back. The man was bewildered – the most hard headed out of all of Aria's friends was giving him the warmest reply as if he hadn't gone to jail, but away on vacation.

Plopping herself down on the couch, Spencer crossed one leg over the other. Ezra watched as Hardy winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes while he retreated to get coffee. Or possible the barista's number; with Hardy, either was debatable.

"So, Aria told me she's seen you," Spencer said, hands clasped in her lap.

Ezra bit down on his lip, eyes fluttering downwards to look at the top of his laptop in his lap. "Yeah," he replied. "It hasn't…um…"

"I'm sorry for jumping in like that." Spencer smoothed her hands over the knees of her jeans. "But I've talked to her. And I know what she's been saying. I thought it would be easier to cut right to the chase."

Ezra winced. Another word and he'd fall to the bits that Hardy's had cut him up into only moments earlier.

"And I don't believe them. Well, I don't now. At first, I did. But you wouldn't…you're not like that, Ezra."

He'd known Spencer had always been the most skeptical out of Aria's friends. To know that he had her approval, at least somewhat, lifted something of a weight off his shoulders that were currently being bogged down.

"You've always been there for her. You aren't the menacing type."

"Thank you," Ezra managed to mutter out. "But, I think that ship has sailed." He drummed his fingertips on the small glowing apple that rested on the top of his computer.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ezra began, sucking in a deep breath. He knew it would hurt to put the words into reality, but it was the only way he'd be able to deal with them. "I'm giving up. I'm done. Aria has made it very clear that me being in her life isn't going to work."

He watched Spencer's hands curl into fists slightly before relaxing. Ezra swore he saw a flash of anger across her face before all expressions converted into a calm, collected one, much like what had been resting there before. "She's scared, Ezra. You have no idea what she went through when you were taken away."

"You don't think I know that? And you don't think I have things that I went through on my own?"

"Of course I do! But giving up isn't going to solve anything. You two continuously keep finding a million and one ways not to be together, when you have a huge one staring you both right in the face."

_Staring them right in the face_? What could possibly be glaring at them like a bright neon sign? It wasn't an obvious love. It wasn't domesticity. Nothing about Ezra and Aria was serene – nothing ever had been.

"What," he asked, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

"Nothing," Spencer said, her eyes widening as wide as a doe's. "Nothing at all."

"Spencer, what's staring us right in the face," Ezra asked her urgently.

"Nothing," she replied abruptly once more, grabbing her bag. "I should really grab my coffee. It was nice seeing you."

He didn't look back to see her brief flirtation with Hardy seconds after she grabbed her cup of coffee. He didn't look at his laptop. Instead, Ezra's blue eyes gaze met the wall. But wallpaper wasn't going to tell him what the sign was.

* * *

Giving up had never been Ezra's style. Not once did he ever give up on a single question when performing on a test. When he failed his driver's examination, he'd retaken it as quickly as possible and studied twice as hard. But giving up on Aria Montgomery was impossible. For two hours, he sat in his apartment doing anything and everything but focusing on Spencer's words. Ezra wanted to give up and be free of the inner turmoil.

But letting go of Aria meant letting go of the world as he knew it.

He'd let her get away far too quickly at the grocery store. Ezra had let her slip through his fingertips like the slipperiest of putty. Spencer was right, despite how short and spurt her words had been – giving up wasn't going to solve anything. He wasn't going to know if Aria wanted him in her life if he just flat out stopped talking to her.

It was just like when he had contemplated running away and starting over. Deep down, Ezra knew that it wasn't going to be an easy thing to accomplish; much less something he thought he could do at all. It had been the easy way out while he was vulnerable, but Ezra's skin was a bit tougher than that.

The car route and walk up to Aria's apartment had become routine by now, even though Ezra had only been there enough times for him to count them all on one hand. He didn't know if she'd open the door, but Ezra wasn't going to leave her alone until he was absolutely positive it was what she wanted. The doorman waved to him on his walk up, now familiarized with Ezra's face. He smiled in return, but eyes were set on the stairwell.

Her apartment appeared sooner than he thought. Ezra's fist knocked lightly on the door, praying that she'd open. And much like the many times Aria opened the door for him, he could feel the wind being knocked out of his chest.

"Ezra," Aria mumbled, hands fiddling with one another as she looked to the ground. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun and a loose fitting tank top adorned her lithe body. "It's late. What're you doing here?" She blinked her bleary eyes up at him. Ezra noted her height nostalgically.

"What're you afraid of," he spoke carefully. Well, not that carefully. Ezra wished it had come out that way rather than being the bunch of brash words that slipped from his mouth in the heat of the moment. His adrenaline was pumping and his determination was set at an all time high.

"I beg your pardon?"

Ezra gulped, feeling his confidence being taken down a notch as Aria looked at him quizzically in the doorway of her apartment. "What're you afraid of, Aria," he repeated slowly, his voice soft. "What's scaring you so much that you push me away every time I come near? What's making it so that every word I say, you misconstrue? Why do you look at me like I'm about to do something terrible every time we're together? You know me, Aria. I'm not the guy they wrote about in the papers. So what're you so scared of?"

She looked at him, her bottom lip quivering. Ezra's lips where parted, waiting with baited breath towards what she'd have to tell him.

"You," she said simply, a few tears streaming down her face.

Much like he'd down years before in the doorway of apartment 3B, Ezra Fitz gathered Aria Montgomery into his arms and pressed a kiss against the top of her forehead to reassure her that everything would be okay in the end.

And she didn't pull away like he'd expected.


	8. Chapter 8

**You all are so amazing with your constant reviews! Please keep it up as well as mentioning this story to those who you think would be interested! I honestly can't thank you enough for your constant support - its what keeps this story alive and humming. **

**I'm really proud of this chapter and I think you all are going to like it. It takes us deeper and also into a new portion of the story!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I owned Pretty Little Liars, Aria and Ezra wouldn't be broken up, Maggie and Malcolm wouldn't exist, and she wouldn't be having a new fling.**

* * *

After what felt like days on end filled with rain, sunlight seemed to flutter onto Ezra's face in the still of early morning. Even in a sleep ridden haze, he could feel the soft glow of morning skim his jaw line, cheek pressed against something warm. Actually, his whole body was pressed up against something viably warm, arms encircling the form as well.

The scent of vanilla wafted into his nose – vanilla with a hint of brown sugar. A small mewl of morning bliss escaped Ezra's mouth. It wasn't this often that he woke up so comfortably. The smell was familiar, although he couldn't seem to place it no matter how hard he tried. Something of it resonated with his past.

"Good morning," Aria spoke close to his ear. Ezra's eyes sprung open, looking down immediately to see where her voice had come from. But it wasn't her in his arms; it was a long pillow. She was leaning down over the edge of the couch, chin propped up on the leather material with a small smile on her face. "Sleep well?"

For a moment, Ezra laid speechless. Something of the situation didn't add up. The Aria Montgomery he'd come into contact days before would rather him be cast out to sleep on a park bench rather than on her living room sofa. And she wouldn't be the one to greet him in the morning; come to think of it, Ezra would've expected her to leave him a note and nothing more.

"Did you lose your voice while you were asleep or something?" She was backing away from the couch now, moving towards the kitchen. The vanilla scent seemed to spill out from the three confined walls of Aria's tiny kitchenette.

Ezra wiped the sleep from the corner of his eyes. "No," he muttered. "Just getting my bearings."

"Will coffee help?"

Something oddly domestic floated through the air of Aria's apartment. It wasn't to say that Ezra didn't like it – he loved it, but he was tentative in trusting and going with the dynamic. It was _too_ nice and _too_ calm to be a moment that was realistic. He pinched the skin of his arm, a dull pain shooting through him; a dream this wasn't.

"Coffee always helps," he replied to her, running a hand through his mussed up hair. Silence moved slowly between the two of them as Aria retreated back into the kitchen to mess with the coffee pot and retrieve a set of mugs from the top of her cabinet.

Ezra listened as Aria tampered with the coffee machine. Her little mumbled phrases reminded him of early mornings together – he'd be getting dressed and she'd be doing her makeup in the mirror of the open bathroom. Ezra would chuckle when she swore over smearing her mascara, to which Aria would shoot him a look so deathly that it scared him from laughing towards such a small blunder eve r again – or at least for the remnants of the day.

Aria poked her head out from the kitchen, stirring Ezra from his day dream. "Do you still take it black?" He nodded in response, brow furrowing. "What's wrong," she chimed once more while walking back into the kitchen. Ezra assumed he hadn't been the only one to feel the tension pulsing between the two of them.

"You're being so nice to me," he answered Aria bluntly.

"Your point? Are you trying to say I'm not usually a nice person?"

Ezra shook his head, standing on is wobbly, post sleep legs to make his way over to the breakfast nook opposite Aria's kitchen counter.

"No," he stuttered, pulling himself up onto one of the tall wicker stools that stood in their place. "But two days ago you were yelling at me to leave. Last night you said you were afraid of me. Now you're making me coffee. It doesn't add up." Ezra rubbed his temples, feeling a headache set in. It was all too much to think about so early in the morning.

His eyes flickered down to the marble countertop, waiting for her reply. Part of Ezra was enthralled in hearing what Aria had to say. The other half of him was terrified he'd struck another ill fated chord with her.

Except, Ezra felt her fingertips ghost along the edge of his hand, prying his fingers away from the tightly wound fist that he'd managed to create out of immense stress and confusion.

"What do I have to be afraid of?" Her hand slipped into his, giving a short, sweet squeeze. Their eyes met for the faintest of moments. Ezra bit down on his lip as he fully looked into Aria's eyes for the first time. He'd missed the hazel color and the way could connect with her by such a simple motion.

The shrill cry of the baby broke the moment too quickly, her hand retracting from his. Aria's eyes dropped, both losing the contact and hurried off towards the hallway. She turned on her heel, hip leaning against the wall. "You probably should…"

"I know," Ezra nodded, going towards the door where his shoes laid neatly beside one another for him to slip on without a second's notice.

"Wait," Aria called, her voice carrying from the baby's nursery and mingling with the wails. "Lunch this afternoon? I can get Spencer to babysit."

Ezra smiled softly at her offer. He nodded, although Aria couldn't possibly see him as she tended to her infant. "I know a great little café in the area. I'll text you the address."

Another moment of silence lingered between the two, and now the baby who seemed to calm down the moment her mother entered the room. Ezra waited, tapping his foot on the wooden floor nervously. "Perfect," Aria called back a minute later.

It didn't hit him till he had already driven at least half of the distance back to Rosewood that he never got his requisite early morning cup of black coffee.

* * *

It also didn't hit Ezra that his fridge was practically barren till his reached his apartment with a grumbling stomach. He still had some savings left and his new writing job would be starting up soon – if there was anything Ezra was going to spend money on now, it would be food. He needed more sustenance than a bowl of cheap oatmeal in the morning and Ramen noodles at night.

He showered quickly before dressing in a comfortable pair of worn in jeans and a tee shirt. Ezra scribbled down a small grocery list before embarking out towards his familiar grocery market. Though, he didn't seem have much luck with trying to buy food without something going wrong.

A chill went down Ezra's spine as he pushed the metal cart into Downtown Rosewood's super market. Luckily, he was able to lay low without many looks from those also tending to their daily shopping needs. He grabbed a few apples and shoved them into one of the plastic bags. They'd tide him over better than any bowl of mush could.

One bag of cherries, two lemons, a lime, a few steaks to throw into his freezer, a box of pasta, a jar of sauce, and a tub of ice cream later, Ezra pushed his cart en route towards one of the many checkout counters. He fumbled a bit with his phone, trying to open up a new text message to send to Aria. But mixing someone like Ezra who wasn't well versed with technology and a busy aisle of a grocery store would always end fatally.

The iPhone fell to floor, luckily protected by an indestructible case for times like this that Ezra had a feeling would arise. His cart made a metallic crash against the one in front of it, causing the other shopper to jump back whilst saying a large string of expletives.

"I'm so sorry," Ezra stammered, bending down to retrieve his phone.

"You should be." Ella Montgomery stood opposite him, hands crossed in front of her body. "For a lot more than just that."

He was rendered speechless once again, phone buzzing in his hand. Apparently his ill executed text to Aria had sent. Ezra watched as Ella's eyes trailed to the name flashing on the touch phone's screen. Her eyes were cold, lips pursed together in a taught, thin line. "Stay away from her," she spoke in a low tone before pushing her cart out of the aisle and away from him.

Ezra blinked before looking down to his phone.

_Aria Montgomery: _

_Meet me in 30?_

* * *

Tuscan Cup was a quaint little place just a few blocks from Ezra's apartment. A small patio surrounded the entrance of the café, but inside was lined with low tables and couches, giving the place a more intimate feel than a fancy restaurant. It had always been one of Ezra's favorite spot to sit down and writer, other than the Brew. The Brew was where he always went with Aria; it was _their_ hangout. Tuscan Cup was _his_.

Ezra smiled warmly towards the owner before going to take a seat on his preferred couch. "I think there's a young lady waiting for you towards the back," the owner spoke, motioning his head towards the back of the café.

Sure enough, Aria sat on another leather couch, her hands flipping the pages of a large coffee table book about photography. Ezra thanked the owner and grabbed two menus before making his way towards Aria.

"Cute place," she spoke as he took a seat beside her. "You never brought me here before."

Ezra shrugged. "We always went to the Brew. I didn't want to break tradition." He handed her a menu. Quiet, but easy to manage tension still lingered from the morning's events and made itself known as Aria and Ezra looked through the menus.

"I think I'll have the Caprese sandwich," she said, placing it down on the table top. Ezra nodded, deciding for a cup of Italian Wedding soup for himself.

He watched as she nervously twiddled her thumbs in her lap. Ezra noticed that Aria had picked off some of her nail polish – a habit that she always had when she was stressed or on edge. He didn't blame her. "Thanks for taking me here." She offered him a small smile.

"Thank _you_ for asking me to lunch," Ezra replied, raking a hand through his hair. He hated the awkwardness that managed to wedge its way between them. "Am I allowed to say that I've missed spending time with you?"

The small chime of Aria's giggle was music to Ezra's ears. "Sure," she nodded. "I could say the same about you."

"What changed," he asked her abruptly. Aria tilted her head to the side, causing Ezra to elaborate his question. "Between the last time I saw you and today; what changed?"

"You didn't try to defend yourself," she replied. "You didn't work yourself up into a tizzy trying to prove to me that I didn't have something to be scared of. You just held me – it showed me you cared. That's what changed." Aria turned towards him on the couch, their knees just brushing one another's.

"I'd like us to really try and be friends, Ezra," she said softly, looking him straight in the eye. "We've never really given it a go."

"There's never been a real chance to," he sighed, rubbing a small bit of stubble on his chin.

"There is now," Aria said, taking hold of his hand. It was enough for them to silence the matter and continue on with their lunch. The two of them chatted amicably, glossing over the subject of Ezra's arrest. He learned of her studies at school and what new subjects she'd taken a liking to; mainly photography. Ezra was happy to have the simplicity as they ate. It felt somewhat like old times, minus the kisses and intimate conversations.

However, they didn't manage to gloss over the subject of the baby.

"So how old is she," Ezra asked, taking a sip of his water.

"How old is who?" He could see Aria trying to play it coy when it came to the subject of her daughter.

"The baby; how old is she?"

Aria pursed her lips. It reminded Ezra too much of Ella hours before in the grocery store, except Aria wasn't nearly as cold as her mother had been. The seconds ticked past as she considered a response, causing Ezra's suspicions to rise. "Two months," she smiled before looking away.

He nodded disappointingly – there was still a torch that Ezra carried that blazed with the hope of her baby being his as well.

Unfortunately for Ezra, but luckily for Aria, he hadn't managed to catch the faltering smile that would give away her lie.


	9. Chapter 9

**All I can say is that you guys are amazing. Please remember to review! They're what keep me motivated to update! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

* * *

Two weeks later, Ezra found himself sitting on a terrace outside a tiny Philadelphia café that Aria had chosen for lunch. In the course of fourteen days they'd gone on walks to the park, sat in the silence of a movie theatre, and consumed copious amounts of food while building up a friendship. Conversation that had once been strained and tense soon lilted like the simplest of melodies. There were smiles that had been missing at least a month ago when they first encountered one another. Ezra was grateful for the contact – it was as much as he could get from the woman he loved at the moment.

"They didn't have the chocolate gelato today," Aria spoke, breaking Ezra from his reverie of the two weeks that had gone by. "But they had hazelnut. I got us a cup – thought we could share."

He forgot to mention that she felt far more comfortable around him now. Aria never vocalized it, but the way she presented herself made him conclude that perhaps she liked his presence.

Ezra shrugged, taking a sip from his glass of water. "Hazelnut's just fine with me." Aria set the cup down on the table between them before taking her seat. They both dug in within seconds, eager to satiate their craving for sweets.

"Nothing could possibly beat this," she smiled, withdrawing the spoon from her mouth.

As simple as it was, Ezra couldn't stop his gaze from lingering on the way she dragged it out from in between her lips – sometimes, Aria's lips were the only thing he could focus on. They often appeared in his dreams, pressing against his. However, the dreams worked much like the fable of Sleeping Beauty – once Aria kissed him, Ezra awoke from his slumber and the image was shattered.

"Ezra?"

"Sorry," he spoke quickly, picking up his own spoon to take a bit. Upon swallowing, Ezra thought his eyes would bug out of his head. "I think this trumps chocolate mousse."

Aria's giggle to his expression was music to Ezra's ears – it was high pitched like a wind chime, but there was something in her tinkering laughter that made it distinctly _Aria_. "Anything trumps chocolate mousse."

"You lie," he smirked, taking another bite. "Chocolate mousse trumps key lime pie any day."

"We're not having that though, are we?"

Knowing she won this round and that he let her, Aria leaned back leisurely in her seat with a cunning smile. Ezra took another scoop of gelato before putting the spoon down to take another sip of water. He barely heard the small dinging of her phone, but it was hard to miss Aria grappling to see who the caller or person texting her was.

It was also hard to miss the blush that settled upon her cheeks, making Ezra's stomach drop. She wouldn't have blushed if it was her mother or Spencer givng her an update about the baby. Reaching to take another bite of the hazelnut gelato, Ezra tried to act as casual as possible. He wouldn't screw up their new found and still budding friendship over a tiny tinge of pink in her cheeks.

Even though he wanted to be the reason it was present – not because of a text message.

"Who was that," he asked nonchalantly as Aria put her phone away. She paused for a few moments, letting suspense linger in the air before speaking.

"This guy in my English Lit class. He…um…asked me for coffee."

Aria seemed to be choosing her words carefully; not divulging a lot of other information. Another blush, causing her cheeks to turn a deeper shade of pink than before betrayed her.

She liked whoever the sender of the text was. And it made Ezra glower inside, stabbing the surface of Italian ice cream a little too hard when diving back in for another scoop.

He gulped back the lump in his throat. A good friend would be supportive. Showing Aria that he could be a good friend would show that he cared. Showing that he cared would example that he was willing to do anything for her. Being willing to to do anything for her would make Aria realize that they could still be good together.

Or at least, this was the master plan Ezra hoped would unfold.

"You should suggest that place on 10th," he said lightly, giving Aria a tight smile. "Good lattes."

Ezra felt Aria's small hand cover his own on that was resting on the tablecloth over the café's small paio table. "Thanks for the idea," she smiled sweetly, letting her thumb trace over the back of his hand.

"You're welcome," Ezra replied, allowing her ministrations to continue. If he broke away, it would show that he was angry; jealous. Not that he already wasn't. It was just far more beneficial to keep up a façade.

* * *

_"I bought you that baguette that you love," Aria said, looping her arm with Ezra's as they walked down a Rosewood sidewalk. She was munching on a cupcake from Lucky Leon's while he sipped leisurely on a coffee. The first sprigs of summer began to appear within the small town. First it was the perpetually warm temperature. Then it was the emergence of bathing suits in store windows. For Ezra, it was breaking his shorts out of the drawer towards the bottom of his dresser. _

_He smiled, kissing the top of her head. "You know, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach." _

_"But I already thought I had your heart." Aria beamed a heart aching smile up at Ezra. It was the tiny things like that which gave her the advantage of having him in the palm of her hand. _

_"Touche, Miss Montgomery," Ezra replied, taking another sip of his coffee as they walked down the street lined with children licking ice cream cones and parents trying to reign them in from their frolicking. "Touche indeed."_

* * *

The last time Ezra had found himself in a shop with Aria had been at least two years ago. His role entailed carrying her bags while she tried on countless outfits that usually took fifteen minutes to pull from the wrack with her eclectic style. By the end of the day, he'd collapsed onto his couch with a groan and made Aria swear that she leave such outings for girl days rather than a date.

"Thanks for this," Aria said, arms laden with clothing that she hung up in the small dressing stall across from the couch that Ezra sat on. "The only things I really have in my closet are maternity clothes and tee shirts." She disappeared behind a curtain before Ezra could reply back.

Regardless of their promise, Ezra found himself in a store with Aria once again, but under much different circumstances. She wasn't shopping for their own dates or lingerie to tease him with. Her need for a new outfit had little to do with Ezra at all besides his help with choosing. He was helping her choose something to wear for a date with another man – the idea didn't sit well in Ezra's stomach. But vocalizing would cost him Aria in his life. That was enough to keep his mouth shut.

"No problem," he called back, leaning against he cushioned behind him.

Ezra closed his eyes, wanting to escape from the highly perfumed atmosphere around him. Stores had never been his thing. He refrained from doing his own shopping – instead Ezra took up his mother's offers to pick him up various items or turned to online shopping for the basics. The only type of shopping that Ezra prided himself at being good at was food shopping.

The rustling of a curtain being pulled back and dainty footsteps on the hardwood floor made Ezra open his eyes to see Aria coming towards him. She wore a two tonal sundress with a full skirt; the top was a light cream and the bottom was a deep shade of rose pink. A delicate design was drawn on the chest of the bodice in black – it was simple, but different enough to define her personality.

Ezra did he best not to let his jaw drop as she did a little spin in front of him and then went to go inspect herself in the mirror.

"Do you think it's too tight?"

If his mouth was full of water, he would've spit it out right then and there in shock.

"Are you joking?"

Aria looked back at him with a narrow eyed glance.

"Aria, you look…beautiful." It didn't take long for the word he'd been wanting to say to her for the past month to come rushing out. "Why're you asking if it's tight? It fits you perfectly."

He came up behind her in the mirror. It took everything Ezra had in him not to wrap his arms around her small middle.

"Are you positive you're not just saying that," Aria asked him softly, turning around. She didn't seem to notice how close they were to touching one another, but Ezra did.

"Absolutely," he replied. "Why're you worried it doesn't look good?" Ezra gulped internally – he hoped it wasn't because she was dead set on looking impeccable for the English Literature guy.

His worried eyes watched as Aria looked back at her body in the mirror, taking in the side view, before turning back to him with an uneasy expression in her eyes.

"It's been hard," she spoke softly, looking down at the floor. "I had a lot of baby weight and it's taken forever to get off. I'm still paranoid there's some hanging off."

"Look at yourself," Ezra said sternly, spinning Aria around to peek at herself in the mirror. "Aria, there isn't an ounce of fat hanging off of you. You look stunning, and if there's a bit of weight, so be it. But I'm fairly certain it isn't there."

"You didn't see me when –"

"Forget the early stages; you just had a baby. Look in this mirror and tell me the girl looking back isn't gorgeous."

There was a lingering pause in the dressing room before a tear rolled down Aria's cheek. When her tiny arms wrapped around him, Ezra was taken aback. Aria squeezed him against her small form, though she was still shaking with un-shed tears. He stroked a hand down her back, letting her cry out all her inhibitions and doubts. It was a moment like this that made being friends worth it – she was trusting him again, which was enough to make Ezra squeal out of glee.

But that wasn't something a grown man would do, was it?

He could feel his button down becoming wet with her tears, but Ezra still didn't pry Aria off of him. He held her instead and let her get rid of her worries. Minutes passed until Aria finally looked back at him.

"Thank you," she whispered. Her large hazel eyes were earnest, despite the watery tears that still pooled in them. They spilled over, but she wiped they away just aw quickly as they had come. "Thank you for being you."

And then Aria did something Ezra never thought she would in a million years. Very slowly, her lips brushed against the stubbly skin of his cheek. It was short and quick – had he not been paying attention and he would've thought it didn't happen. His body felt electric for the shortest of seconds, almost like he was a live wire just as long as she was near him.

It was over too quickly though, like the shortest of fire crackers. "You're a good friend," Aria said before retreating back into her dressing stall. Ezra stood in front of the mirror, looking back at his reflection with an air of loss in his expression on his face.

_Friend…friend…friend_.

The word played over and over in the recesses of his mind.

For the shortest of moments, Ezra pretended that she'd been wearing the dress for him.

But reality sank in when Aria reappeared with the dress slung over her arm and gaze adverted to her phone while another blush spread over her cheeks.


	10. Chapter 10

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* * *

The amber liquid swirled around in its crystalline glass. Ezra looked down as if he'd see an answer in the alcohol. Except it didn't tell him his future or his destiny. The only thing Ezra would find in his glass of scotch was liquid courage. He took a draining sip, slamming the glass down on the hardwood coffee table with a small thud as if he was in a bar. It wasn't frustration that coursed through him, but rather anxiety.

"You're acting as if you're waiting to be drafted into the war," Hardy commented, taking a sip of his own drink.

"Ezra, she's only going to the movies," Spencer added on from where she was in the kitchen, opening various boxes of Chinese takeout for the three of them to chow down on. The smells of Sesame Chicken and Pork Lo Mein wafted through her Philadelphia townhouse. Had it been any other occasion and his mouth would've been watering.

He chewed the inside of his lip before taking the final sip that would drain the clear glass. "She was so excited about it."

"And she doesn't have a right to be?"

Hardy had always been the more hardheaded one when it came towards Ezra wanting to win Aria back. He saw her as a bad idea – she'd been the reason he was sent to the slammer and his life plunged into a living hell. Ezra knew his friend's stance on the matter, but it didn't change what he wanted.

"But he has a right to be anxious, especially when he's put everything out on the table."

Spencer was the one who was more lenient, especially because she knew the situation from Aria's side too. There was more to it than she let on, but primarily, Ezra saw her to be rooting for his team instead of instigating like Hardy did.

"He did that the last time and look what happened."

With the weeks that had gone by, the two of them had gotten closer and closer to the point of dating. Hardy and Spencer seemed to compliment each other in Ezra's eyes – they were both strong willed and hard to compromise with, but Spencer's touch of softness sometimes softened Hardy. Their sarcastic humors blended together into a tour de force of witty comments. However, it didn't stop the bickering, but that was a part of being a good couple, wasn't it?

Ezra assumed so.

He liked them together. It was nice to see his best friend find someone that could give him the consistentcy that late night bar pick up blondes couldn't.

"You act like he can't speak for himself on the matter," Spencer quipped.

"And he very well can," Ezra followed up, placing the empty glass on the table. The spo was ringed with condensation, making a placeholder. Hardy came over with the bottle to pour him another, but Ezra held his hand out to stop a drop of the amber liquid from falling into the glass. He didn't want anymore. As he looked at the clock, the hours grew later – Ezra didn't want to be drunk if Aria happened to stop by and recount her date.

"So tell me, Ezra," Hardy said, leering forwards. "Does Aria have the right to be excited for a date?" His lawyer side was coming out through his questioning. It wouldn't be long until he was firing them back and forth like he had at Ezra's trial a year ago.

With pursed lips, Ezra let out an almost silent _yes_. He hated to be wrong. He also hated the idea of Aria being excited for a date that didn't involve him. Every day it was getting harder to not swallow his pride and accept that there was someone filling the romantic spot in Aria's life. His eyes flickered down to his lap, desperately wishing he'd taken Hardy's offer for another drink.

"Exactly," Hardy quipped, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied grin. "Ezra, she's been nothing but up and down with you. She's not worth taking another risk on."

Ezra could hear the intake of breath Spencer took. If he could also hear skin curl, picking up on her clenched fists would've been a bit easier. "That's my best friend you're calling out."

"Your best friend who's basically been plaguing my best friend for a year and a half now. Leave your bias at the door and answer – is she worth him going through more heartache for a slim chance in the future?"

"Aria's stubborn," Spencer said. "She thinks she knows what she wants and tries to defy what the universe wants for her. Give her time."

"There's only so much time in a time glass."

Ezra continued to remain quiet. There wasn't much use of him talking while the two were matched in a heated argument. Especially knowing that he was the subject of it.

Hardy had a point – Ezra only had so much time left until he began to break down, if he hadn't already. It didn't help much if Aria ended up having a stellar time on her date that night. Part of him feared she would. Fighting for her with his already tarnished record would be harder than before.

But Spencer had a point too. Passion wasn't supposed to be a walk in the park. Passion was supposed to be hard and tough to fight for, but worth the pay off in the end. And from prior experience, fighting for Aria had always proven worth it.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise ceased the argument. Ezra's eyes directed towards Spencer's phone that had lit up on the table. Its incessant vibrating was starting to grate on his already fragile post-argument ears, but when his eyes' caught the sender of the text his heart started to pump sporadically.

The woman's hand shot out to reply to her friend's text message. Ezra watched closely as Spencer chewed on her bottom lip. Something didn't seem promising as her fingers flew across the keys. He could feel his stomach starting to plummet bit by bit.

"She had fun," Spencer said quietly.

The silence in the room was pressing enough to shatter someone's spine as Ezra grabbed his coat and left without so much as a goodbye.

* * *

Not surprisingly, Spencer's apartment was relatively close to Aria's. It suddenly made sense to Ezra as to how easily Aria could call her for babysitting. His stomach twisted as he knocked on her door – something felt different then from the many times he had before. There was something ominous in the air. But he wasn't aware how close to his breaking point he really was.

Aria opened up after a few knocks, still wearing her studded blouse and jeans that he presumed she'd worn on her date. "Hey," she smiled. "What's up?" Her eyes shifted to the small gold plated watch on her wrist to check the time. "It's late."

"I know," Ezra swallowed. The lump in his throat was only growing bigger and bigger. "I was at Spencer's. I wanted to know how your date went. Can I come in?"

He didn't notice the unease in Aria's body as she shifted to let him inside. He didn't hear the door close with a light thud either. The silence in her apartment was almost as deafening as the one in Spencer's apartment previously. His own behavior was off putting, though Ezra wouldn't have realized it himself. A million questions flooded his mind – some that he wanted to hear the answers to and some that he would prefer be kept under wraps.

"You had fun?" Ezra didn't sit; he paced in circles like a shark stalking its prey before the catch.

"Yeah," Aria replied, staying close to the door. "Ezra, are you really here to talk about my date?"

He nodded, his eyes landing on the window that gave a view of a small park on the streets below. His view landed on the swing set, wondering if Aria ever took her daughter to play there – wondering if he'll ever get the chance to meet her coveted little girl. Ezra's body turned despondent and motionless.

"Are you ok?"

Reality had begun to set in. Ezra's limp arms began to tremble. His illusion of a happy ending was splintering right before his very eyes; Aria didn't trust him. The trust they'd once had was gone, instead left with an attempt towards a friendship with no substance. It hadn't dawned on Ezra before that she didn't – he'd always thought she wasn't ready to introduce him to her daughter. But as the months went by, no progress was made in that department. To be around children, there had to be a mutual trust. And while it came from Ezra's side, it most certainly didn't come from Aria's.

"Does he hold you the way I used to?"

She didn't respond.

Vivid colors flashed in Ezra's head, his mind and reason starting to deteriorate into a realm of irrationality. Like the earth cracking after an earthquake, his breaking point cracked in half. The only direction left now was down, as if Ezra himself was free falling off a cliff.

"Does he?" He turned around slowly to catch Aria shake her head. In the midst of his downfall, he missed the fear that crossed her face. He took a step closer to her, fingers gripping the top of her arms.

"Does he kiss you the way I used to?"

"Ezra, stop," she said lowly, trying to pry his fingertips away from her skin. It only made Ezra press the palms of his hands gently, albeit aggressively, against her.

"Does he look at you the way I do?"

She bit her lip. He yearned to hear her say the words "Nobody looks at me the way you do." But unfortunately, life wasn't a rainbow or filled with roses. What you wanted wasn't always achievable and it was beginning to hit Ezra hard, like a baseball bat to the face.

"I think it's time for you to leave," she spoke, her voice trembling. "Get out, Ezra. If you're going to be like this, I don't want you around me or my baby."

At the mention of the baby, his face contorted into an unpleasant expression. Aria's daughter had been the reason he'd tipped over his breaking point. It wasn't that she had a daughter, but it was a part of her life that Aria wasn't willing to share with him – because she couldn't trust him, because she was still scared of him. Her fear registered in his eyes on the word _baby_.

"Why won't you let me meet her? Will you ever?"

He watched as Aria's lips parted, trying to speak the words that Ezra knew would be coming in the matter of seconds – actually, singular word rather. _No_.

Shaking his head, he backed away from her and gently moved her aside so that he could have easy access to the door and the ability to make a speedy getaway.

Upon shutting her apartment door, Ezra sucked in a deep breath. Tears stung in the corners of his eyes, although they were far more painful than they had ever felt before. But instead of sliding down the wall in a hopeless fashion to sit with his head in his hands, Ezra forced himself to keep walking down the hallway.

Without knowing, Ezra left behind Aria whose ear was pressed against the door to listen as his footsteps got farther away and had the very same tears in her eyes.

But even so, if he'd seen the sight, he knew he couldn't feed into it – he couldn't be friends with someone who didn't trust him.

With a new, but disheartening resolve, he trudged down the steps to his small silver Toyota Camry. There were memories of him and Aria made in those very two front seats, but he didn't think about them in his post breaking phase. Rather than pining his way home, he drove with the image of Aria's fearful eyes burned into his brain.


	11. Chapter 11

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* * *

Ezra wasn't sure if the metallic sound of brakes coming to an abrupt stop was in his head or coming from a car on the nearby road outside the park. Though after careful consideration, he was positive it was in his head. The park was quiet except for the sporadic brushing of leaves through the breeze. But nothing was breezy in Ezra's head, although it should've been cleared by now. The complicated rollercoaster of Aria Montgomery had come to a stop, jolting Ezra the night after he'd gotten home from her apartment three months ago. He'd felt like he'd been catapulted forwards in his seat when he'd wrapped himself in the comforts of his bed. Since then, he'd cut her out of his life.

But leaning how to be Aria Montgomery free had never been an easy task for Ezra Fitz.

At first, he'd faltered a bit. It had been twenty two days since he'd closed her apartment door and he felt himself going through the signs of certain withdrawal. It had been one thing to be forced away from her – to do so willingly was entirely different. The image of an addict in rehab came to Ezra's mind more than once, but he refused to think so lowly of himself. Not yet. He wouldn't get to the point he'd been in prison.

After a quick visit to Hardy, who'd demanded Ezra check in with him every day so that he didn't "relapse" (Hardy's own words), Ezra had pulled his car into the same grocery shop he'd helped Aria buy groceries at too many weeks before. Always an optimist, he held the tiny sliver of hope that he'd see her, even if she was simply picking up apples and didn't look his way.

In the midst of examining the sugar content on a box of Captain Crunch, Ezra saw her. Her hair was tied up loosely in a low ponytail and a plain tee shirt and jeans adorned her body with the exception of a pair of studded boots. His heart picked up as she reached for a container of baby snacks in the aisle across from him and then turned back to the carriage.

In the front compartment sat something that was far from an oversized purse. For the most fleeting of moments, Ezra heard the giggle of a baby as Aria leaned in close to nuzzle her nose with the infants. She handed the container to the baby, who's legged squirmed and kicked with excitement while her tiny hands shook the make shift rattle. Ezra's chest tightened, gasping quickly which seemed to get Aria's attention. Like a deer in headlights, she spun around. Their eyes connected and for the briefest of moments, Ezra could see the baby's face fully – beautiful just like her mother.

It all happened far too quickly. One minute he saw her, the next, Aria was pushing the cart away from him. Old Ezra would've followed her and demanded an explanation behind her running away. This Ezra went back to his cereal examination. His heart still squeezed, telling his body to do what it wanted and go after her, but he didn't.

Even after twenty two days, Aria didn't trust him. And he had a feeling she never would.

Three months and two days after the incident, Ezra sat quietly and somewhat contentedly at his favorite table in the wooded area of Rosewood's only park. His fingers tapped away at the keys of his laptop, fingering out a short column he'd been assigned for the magazine. Since cutting himself off, work had become more prominent in Ezra's life than winning Aria over. He was turning into an article manufacturing machine – one flying out from his fingers after the other. Sometimes he had two, maybe three, in an edition. Easily to see, his employers were impressed.

The column was often about something mundane, but having work kept Ezra distracted from thinking of what ifs.

_What if he hadn't walked out of her apartment? What if he kept fighting? What if he'd gone after her at the supermarket?_

What ifs had eaten Ezra alive the week after the incident. He'd barely gotten any sleep and had almost been fired. His writing had been minimal with Aria in his life. That week, articles from him had been slim to none. It took Hardy to shake him from his zombie-like state.

An Aria Montgomery-less life wasn't as scary as Ezra had thought it would be. No, he didn't go on any dates or branch out to other women in Rosewood, but he didn't find himself pining over her anymore as he laid his head on a pillow or breaking down into tears in the midst of a hot shower. Part of it was because he forced himself not to care. The other was that Ezra had shut off any form of feeling – perhaps it was melodramatic, but it made coping easier.

His phone vibrated on the wood of table, tearing Ezra's attention away from the nearly finished article to the iPhone that was blinked up at him.

**Diane Fitzgerald: I'm halfway to that little grill place – let you know when I'm there. **

Majority of Ezra's lawyers and early release had been with Diane's help, her love for her eldest son pulling through over caste systems and status. Ever since he'd been let out, the two had been repairing their relationship, with the exception of Wes. His younger brother was off studying abroad, not that Ezra had the hankering to see him after finding out that he'd kissed Aria the year earlier.

The document's cursor blinked for a few moments. Ezra was lost in his head again, thinking about Aria – thinking about the betrayal he'd felt from both sides upon hearing that his younger brother had taken advantage of Aria's vulnerabilities and touched someone who wasn't his. He felt almost as hurt that Aria hadn't stopped it.

He was thinking about her and letting himself feel. Almost immediately upon realization, Ezra pressed the off button in his head.

* * *

His article had been saved and printed by the time Diane texted again. Getting to the Grille by foot took a bit longer, but Ezra hadn't been in the mood for a leisurely bike ride. They'd been routine every morning, but something about the day felt off. It was like doing a puzzle that you swore had all 100 pieces, but the box contained only 99. Such a minor indiscretion could change everything.

Sitting in her neatly tailed suit with hands perched delicately over one another was Diane Fitzgerald. Her brown hair, a shade lighter than Ezra's, was perfectly quaffed and her long nails were filed into rounded edges with the sheerest of sheer nail polish coloring them. When he was younger, Ezra often wondered if she was that to the likes of a Barbie doll. However, when Diana accidentally burnt herself on a candle and didn't melt, the idea generated by his youngster self was squashed.

"There's my handsome son," she chimed. Ezra cringed – he hated the tone of voice she used. He called it her "wine and dine" voice.

He shrugged and pushed a hand through his artfully tangled hair; although Ezra never did anything in the mornings to make it look good – no gel was harmed in the making of his everyday look. "I don't know if handsome is the word I'd use, but whatever floats your boat, Mom," he said with a tight smile before sitting down across from her.

Ezra was still adjusting to having the new and improved version of Diane back in his life. She was no longer the conniving woman she'd proved herself to be, but somewhere along the lines of his arrest, she'd softened; as Ezra would say, she showed that she had the capacity to be a mother. Unfortunately, it took her twenty five years and jail to realize it. Memories of her former ways were still ingrained of his memory and sometimes Ezra compared them to the now moments to make sure his mother wasn't being phony.

"You look just like your father," Diane replied, giving a fluff to her hair as if to solidify the topic. "What have you been up to today?"

He shrugged, picking up the menu in front of him. They sat out on the terrace that gave a view to the Rosewood streets. In earlier months, Ezra had been hesitant to sit outside. He knew that no one would say so much as a word to him, but images of himself being pelted with rotten vegetables flooded his brain. Now, some people smiled or gave him a small wave. Life was managing to fall back in place, even if it meant not having Aria in it.

"I finished an article. But that's nothing that's generally new."

"Do you find it to be a good distraction?"

Ezra looked up from the menu after scanning it for a few moments. He'd settled on a small salad – the unease about the day had settled into his appetite. A genuine smile fluttered onto his lips. When it came to talking about his writing, Ezra opened up like a rose that was in bloom.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I've found what I love about writing again too." With words, he never felt alone.

* * *

After an hour, Diane's beeper went off with another important engagement in the Rosewood area. With a much protested peck to Ezra's forehead, she was off in something of a blur. Ezra chuckled – his mother always had a speedy reputation. When she wanted to get something done, it would be before one of her artfully designed heels could touch the floor.

Without anything else on his agenda and being far ahead in his work plate, Ezra ordered himself an iced coffee and relaxed leisurely against the back of his patio chair. He was half tempted to take out a notebook or his laptop once more and work, but the blue sky above him kept him from doing so. In the past three months, Ezra neglected to take a look at the world and let everything stop spinning for a moment. He was constantly searching for a new distraction to keep himself busy with. The dark haired man sighed, wishing he had a well worn book in his hand.

However, Ezra wouldn't admit to himself that another part of him wished a certain brunette was sitting in front of him as well with a book of her own.

His fingers drew shapes in the tablecloth while he waited for his coffee to arrive on a scratched silver tray. But even so, service seemed to be running altogether too slowly. The remnants of his salad hadn't been swiped away yet by a waiter, giving him a chance to pick at whatever nuts were left in the bottom of the dish. Ezra munched on them for a bit before is coffee came, taking a heart sip of caffeine.

"Ezra?" The sip of coffee he'd taken only seconds before was spit back into the cup. Ezra swore he had choked and gone unconscious.

The cold glass in his hand shook as he listened for the footsteps to follow up behind him and make their way round the table towards the empty seat across.

"I thought I'd find you here." Ezra blinked his clear blue eyes that managed to turn cloudy within the matter of seconds.

Three months without Aria Montgomery had been a long time. He hadn't quite realized it until she was sitting before him.

"Can we talk?" His eyes remained glued on her, not a peep coming from his lips. Aria's eyes narrowed, wanting an explanation to his strange behavior; Ezra wasn't in a position to grant her one though.

"Or you know, I can talk and you can stare at me," she deadpanned, breaking him from his trance.

"Are you going to talk to me or tell me to leave a public place?" His eyes met hers with an icy stare.

Ezra watched as she bit down on her plump bottom lip. It tinged red, creating a stirring feeling in his chest. His conscious snubbed out the flame – Ezra wouldn't be taken advantage of this time and succumb. He'd worked too hard to get to the point he was at – spent too many nights without sleep to keep himself from dreaming about the woman in front of him.

Aria's eyes fluttered down to the white tablecloth. "I don't expect you to like me right now."

"You're sure as hell I don't," Ezra mumbled. It wasn't true, but his frustration with her was overriding any feeling of love. "Why are you here, Aria? To buckle me in on another rollercoaster ride? I could barely stand being jerked around the first time; I don't think I could deal with a second."

"I'm not here to play with you, Ezra. I never was."

Ezra gave her a pointed look. "Could've fooled me." He watched as she stomached his words before continuing.

"I don't want to fight with you anymore. I was wrong – I've come up with every reason not to trust you without giving consideration to the reasons why I should."

In any other situation, Ezra would've been floored. But his newly hard exterior kept him from melting into a puddle at her feet. "Why now?"

"You walked out of my apartment the minute I told you to leave. You didn't force yourself on me or into the baby's room. You just…left. I know it's a warped way to realize trust, but when you cut yourself out of my life, I knew something had gone wrong – that _I'd_ done something wrong." He watched as her big hazel eyes began to be rimmed with tears. "_I _pushed you away when I shouldn't have."

Ezra sat silently across from her, letting her words sink in. The resolve he had built up against her was beginning to disintegrate with every syllable that came out of Aria's mouth. After all, being truly over her was something Ezra had convinced himself of – and he knew full well he was barely over Aria Montgomery.

"I want you to meet her," Aria continued. "Come for a walk with us this week? At that little park by my place?"

"What about…you know…" He knew she'd began dating "Movie Date Guy" through Spencer. "Won't he mind?"

The tears were gone from her eyes, now only leaving a mischievous glint. "When have I ever done something I've been advised against?"

"I want you in my life, Ezra – for good."


	12. Chapter 12

**Can I just say that I really love you guys! You totally went above and beyond with reviews last chapter and I really hope it happens again with this one! We're about to approach a new turn in the story, so buckle up! I also have to give another thanks to Lyndsey tirelessly helping me with this story.**

**I really love seeing your feedback, so please review! **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. **

* * *

Ribbons of cotton candy pink and sky blue decorated the walls of the baby section of one of downtown Rosewood's boutiques. To say that Ezra felt out of his comfort zone being amongst the plethora of antique cribs and knitted blankets would've been something of an understatement. His fingers drifted over the soft fleece of a white blanket draped over a rocking chair. Perhaps Aria's baby needed a new blanket. After a few moments of consideration, Ezra shook his head. That baby probably had more blankets than fingers given how much love she seemed to be surrounded by.

Having gotten a text from Aria late last night, he was in pursuit of the perfect gift – a token of his excitement and thanks towards his ex-girlfriend for letting him in, even if it was only her creaking the door open just a bit.

The place seemed to be covered with blankets – a woven one here, another fleece over there. Ezra felt himself getting more lost than he had been as a child in a large department store.

A teddy bear wouldn't cut it – a smiling pink bear with bulging eyes wasn't something Ezra had in mind for the infant. Maybe an onesie, but how many could the baby possibly have? Being a man that was easily frustrated, Ezra stood stationary on the floor as if his feet were glued in place with a sticky molasses.

Babies weren't something he was good with. Family life was something Ezra had abandoned long ago when his former high school girlfriend revealed that her seven year old son Malcolm wasn't his after all. Ezra had felt betrayed – he didn't want any other family besides Aria. And even still, with the reentrance of his mother, the only person he still felt close with _was _Aria, despite the rockiness of their relationship. Her baby was a staple in her life and she was now willing to share her with Ezra. It was something he had to accept and warm up to.

It wasn't as if he hadn't imagined having a family with Aria before.

"Sir, do you need any help?" Ezra jumped as a finger tapped him on the shoulder faintly. His eyes blinked wildly for a second while his feet became unstuck to the floor. A girl who couldn't be more than twenty or so stood in front of him, a stack of onesies in her hand. Tendrils of unruly red hair were stuffed into a ponytail holder.

Ezra nodded quickly. His eyes roamed around the store, causing the shop helper to chuckle. "Overwhelming, isn't it? You must be a first time dad."

"I guess you could say that." He shrugged, knowing he told a bold faced lie. But who else in the shop could possibly know Aria Montgomery? The chances were small and slim. Ezra took the opportunity, reveling that he had a moment to pretend that maybe, just maybe, he and Aria had started a family of their own – that the baby girl he'd only seen glimpses of was his.

The red headed young woman put her stack down and guided him towards a section of the store that had a wall of baby booties that ranged from small to big and plain to plaid. "These have been super popular. I can guarantee they'll be a great buy."

He studied the wall until a pair caught his eye. They were small and pink with a white unicorn embroidered onto the front of the each shoe. Ezra smiled and plucked them off the rack, holding them to the girl with an even wider grin on his face.

"I'll take these."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Ezra sat on his well worn leather couch with the unicorn booties in a silver box that the store had given him. A white bow and a pair of scissors sat beside the box and a concentrated expression sat on his face. He'd never been handy when it came to wrapping presents. When he bought Aria a vintage camera, he'd quit trying to wrap it with a special paper he'd gotten and chose to put in a paper bag and tie it off with the very same type of ribbon that was sitting in front of him.

After cutting a sufficiently long strand, he attempted to tie it around the box like he'd seen his mother do during Christmastime as a child. Five minutes went by and he was on the verge of giving up. The ringing of his phone made him jump, having not expected it in the silence of his apartment. Ezra reached out to grab it swiftly, pressing the answer button with the swipe of his finger.

"Hello?"

"So I was thinking you could come over around 5." He smiled – Aria.

"It's practically 5 now," Ezra said, a smirk on his face although she couldn't see it.

He could practically hear her shrug carelessly in an effort to get what she wanted. "That just means you'll have to hope a cop doesn't catch you speeding, Ezra."

"Of course, anything for you." However, Ezra didn't take into consideration the depth of his words. A pause passed between the two of them until a gurgle came in muffled through the speaker of the phone. Ezra listened as Aria giggled, talking to her baby much like she had in the grocery store. His heart swelled at the adorableness, but it also broke at the same time – he desperately wished it could be his.

"Is that her," he asked carefully.

"Yeah," Aria replied, her voice devoid of any hesitance. "Hey, do you want to talk to her?"

Ezra was all too eager to agree.

"Baby, can you say hi?" He heard the shift of the phone, although he was sure Aria was still holding it. A soft giggle came through the speaker.

"Well, hey there," Ezra smiled – then came another giggle and a gurgle. "Is that so? Really?" He feigned trying to hold a conversation with the baby. Despite it only being a series of noises and not actual words, it was the first conversation that had made him genuinely smile in weeks. Ezra continued, listening to Aria and her baby's laughs mingle on the other end of the line until he could hear the slamming of the door and a bit of commotion along with the voice of Ella Montgomery.

"Listen, Ezra," Aria said, coming back to him. Her voice was significantly lower this time and the gurgles of the baby were growing farther and farther away. "I have to go, but I'll see you as soon as you get here, okay?

"Okay."

* * *

"My mom came and took her," Aria said the minute she pulled the door open for Ezra. Disappointment washed over him like a fresh spray coming out the shower. His face tightened into the most constrained smile he could muster, but Aria's hand squeezing his was enough for him to know that she'd picked up on his former expression. "Ezra, I didn't have my mother come and take her because you were coming over. I forgot she had her for the night. I'm sorry."

"Its fine," he shrugged. "We can still go for a walk – it's beautiful outside."

She looked at him slyly, making his eyebrows rise. Ezra knew that look – Aria had something up her sleeve. "I was thinking something a little more fun?

"And what would that be?"

"Bowling," she said simply, grabbing his hand. Ezra hadn't noticed until she pulled him out the door that she'd been equipped and ready to go with her purse hoisted over her shoulder and keys in hand.

* * *

Strider Lanes glowed with neon lights in the darkness of the Philadelphia night. The inside décor was anything but toned down from its outside appearance. Lights flashed from every lane as a player made a strike or a spare. Music played from speakers so loud that the whole room felt like it was vibrating to a collective pulse. Ezra watched as Aria's eyes went wide, taking in the large room that was packed full of people and the sounds of bowling balls crashing into pins.

"I've never been bowling before," she said, slightly breathy while handing over her credit card to book them a lane. Ezra swiped it out of her hand before the cashier could take it and exchanged his in its spot.

She turned towards him with an annoyed look on her face. "Not fair, I wanted to pay."

"I got an advance in my salary. Let me, alright?" She didn't protest and he smiled, glad to have gotten his way with her for once in what felt like an eternity. After getting the receipt and tickets for bowling shoes, Ezra pointed to their lane.

"Lane 26," he stated. "Why don't I go get the shoes and you can enter our names?"

No less than ten minutes later, after standing in what seemed to be an endless line, Ezra found his way through the parties of people at crowded plastic tables to Lane 26 where Aria was diligently typing their names in so that they were appear in the screen above the lane. "You're worse at technology than I am," he laughed.

"It's this stupid touch screen," Aria complained, tapping away at the screen. "It's not reading when I press down on it."

Ezra went over to examine what she was doing. He chuckled. "Maybe you should use your finger, not the tip of your nail."

"I hate how you're always right."

"I wasn't a teacher for nothing," he quipped back as she turned to put their names in. For a moment, as she scoffed sarcastically, it felt like old times. Ezra smiled and picked up the bowling ball as soon as their "go" light flashed.

The ball went rolling down the brightly lit alley, crashing into the pins and landed Ezra a strike. He raised his hands up over his head and gave a celebratory fist pump – something out of character, but that Ezra did whenever he achieved something. After learning he'd gotten a job at Rosewood the first time around, he'd done the same thing, only in the privacy of his dorm room, not in a public bowling alley.

He looked back to Aria, who sat with a leg crossed over the other and had a brilliant smile on her face. Her eyes widened as she looked up to see how many points he'd gotten. "Teach me," she said softly while picking up a small aqua colored bowling ball from the rack.

"With pleasure," Ezra chortled playfully.

Aria stood at the mouth of the lane, taking a stance that one would take if they were running a marathon. Ezra laughed, coming up behind her. Gently, he placed his hands on her hips and swiveled her to the side so that she'd have better leverage. He gulped, feeling the spark that erupted at beneath his fingertips, half expecting Aria to shirk away – she didn't. "You want to roll the ball, not jog down the alley – not that you could particularly. You'd trip in those shoes."

"Yeah, yeah," Aria retorted, rolling her eyes. "Keep going, Mr. Fitz."

His hand rested on her wrist, gently pulling it back. "Only go so far back and then toss forwards as hard as you can." Ezra guided Aria's arm until she tossed the bowling ball. The pair watched expectantly as the aqua ball seemed to roll at a painstaking pace.

"Come on," Aria said, trying to will it along with her words. Neither she nor Ezra had noticed that his hands were still placed softly against her skin.

Finally, the bowling ball came to place, knocking down all the pins in its wake. Aria exploded into a cheer louder than Ezra's and drew the attention of the bowlers in the lanes next to them. In the midst of her happiness, she threw her arms around Ezra and buried her face against his chest. He could feel her smile against the fabric of his sweater – seeing her so triumphant only made him burst into a smile as well. Aria's happiness had always been his happiness, regardless of the difficulty of him giving it to her.

She looked up from his chest, beaming her mega watt smile right at him. Aria's hands clasped Ezra's cheeks delicately – her small fingers could only stretch so far. "We did it."

"Indeed," he said. All of the sudden, he felt as if they were in a time that was two years ago where their love had run ramped. Ezra saw Aria's lips move closer to his, but it wasn't his head that was doing the craning. Just as their lips brushed, he felt her jerk herself out of his arms. The trance was broken and they were standing meters apart.

"I—I'm gonna go get some French Fries," Aria stuttered. He watched her walk off to the snack counter before sitting down in the closest chair available. Ezra put his head in his hands, massaging his temples.

He'd let it go too far. A fear that she'd pull back from him again colored his very inside, but he erased it quickly. After all, Ezra wasn't the one who pursued the kiss. Maybe there was hope – perhaps Aria wanted their happily ever after back.


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update! I'm in a show (which just opened last night) and rehearsals have been intense. But I have been working on this for you all - I'm sorry if it's short or not up to par; I've been trying to get back into the writing feel after so long. **

**I can't thank you all enough for your support! Please keep reviewing! We're so close to 300 and it would mean the world to have at least 20 reviews for this chapter! Also, special shout out to Lyndsey for helping me immensely with this story. **

**Please review!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything. If I did, Jake wouldn't exist.**

* * *

Ezra's head was up in the clouds, feet dancing on the puffs of white ever since his night out with Aria at the bowling alley. Her lips brushing against his for a faint moment was the memory he fell asleep to and woke up with each morning. Trying to break through Aria's wall was like being a kid who was trying to dig their way through the sand in order to get to the mushy clay-like substance underneath. Now that he reached it, he was ready to mold their relationship into something reminiscent of what they'd been in the past. Ezra just hoped that Aria was as well.

Her boyfriend was the last thought on his mind as Ezra and Aria walked along the stone lined path of a lush park near her apartment building. People sat on benches and ate sandwiches. Flowers were in full bloom, bursting with color. The world around them was vividly bright – in stark contrast to the conversation between the two. Each time Ezra tried to speak, Aria would be distracted by something in the greenery and change the subject.

"It's really beautiful here."

"You've said that four times now."

Aria shot him a look over her heart shaped sunglasses that reminded Ezra vaguely of the book cover for _Lolita_. "Doesn't mean I can't express it again."

He pursed his lips. She was making it incredibly difficult to talk to her, especially on the topic that Ezra was itching to bring up – their almost kiss. Aria's hair blew gently in the breeze as they walked, sending the scent of her vanilla shampoo wafting into his nose. Ezra missed the smell of her hair, the smell of her body wash; he missed _her_. He wanted Aria Montgomery and nothing else.

Colorful banners descending from the awning of a building caught his eye – The Nadeau Museum of Modern Art. Once upon a time, Aria had kissed him inside the walls of the grand building among folding chairs and sweaty cheese that neither of them dared to touch. They'd held hands while looking at abstract pieces of art that neither Ezra nor Aria could figure out the artist's intention behind. They'd created a game where whoever could come up with the best story behind a piece would have to buy take out for a week.

If he could get her in a place that was familiar to their relationship, perhaps Aria would open up a bit more.

"Hey, over there," he said gently, pointing to the museum. "Remember that place?"

Aria looked up from the flowers that she'd been staring at routinely for five minutes. She'd look at Ezra and then return her attention to whatever flower was next to her on the path. A soft blush almost as pink as the rose bush planted beside them came across her cheeks. "Yeah, I do."

"Want to go in? Just like old times?"

Ezra watched Aria's conflicted eyes shift from him to the building then back to the flowers. Chatter continued and the sun beat down on them for what felt like an eternity until she gave him her answer. "Sure," Aria replied quietly. "What's the harm?"

* * *

Splatters of pink and blue littered a deep red canvas. The texture wasn't smooth as any classic art painting would have, but was bumpy as if the artist has threw the paint on in clumps and let them dry subject to any bubbling or denting. There was some definitive shape that Ezra couldn't pin point as he and Aria stood in front of the painting for ten minutes, trying to dissect what the motive of the artist had been.

Unfortunately, suggesting they go into the museum wasn't the greatest idea Ezra could've mustered up to get Aria to talk to him. It was the equivalent of taking a first date to the movies. And the silence – the silence between them wasn't the comfortable type they'd used to have. Ezra swallowed, looking down at Aria. She feigned interest in the painting.

"What do you think the artist was trying to say?"

"I don't know," Aria said, never taking her eyes off the painting – never looking at him. It was agonizing to the point where Ezra could feel his self confidence becoming crippled. What happened to the Aria who laughed at his jokes as he tried to land strike after strike in the bowling alley? The Aria who asked for his help on how to aim – where had she gone in the span of a day?

It never occurred to Ezra that her strange behavior was because of their almost kiss.

"You've always known."

"Maybe I don't anymore."

Ezra rubbed the sprinkling of stubble on his jaw, eyes averting from the painting in search of something else. A timid touch on his arm turned him towards Aria once more. "I'm sorry," she murmured, rubbing the sleeve of his pale blue button down shirt. "The baby was up all night – I didn't get much sleep."

"It's alright." Ezra gave her a small smile. Her hand was still on his arm; he took it as a good moment as any to summon the courage he'd been storing since he'd escorted her out of her apartment earlier that afternoon.

"Look, Aria – last night was easily one of the best nights I've had in awhile. I know you felt it too. Maybe it's time we give things another go. Fate wouldn't have given us so many chances if that wasn't the case."

His blue eyes had been welded shut, inhaling through his nose until he was finished with the few choice words that had been playing over in his head for two hours. But as soon as they'd left his mouth, the world around Ezra changed. Aria's hand dropped from his arm and the room became stuffy and overcrowded. His cotton shirt felt like it was an angora sweater.

"Ezra." With an audible gulp, he turned to look at Aria who was simply shaking her head. "We can't."

* * *

If it were possible for embarrassment to set someone on fire, Ezra was certain he would burst into flames while he walked the cemented sidewalks of Philadelphia. He and Aria had given the cold shoulder to one another respectively for another five minutes before deciding to head off to their own accords. It was a wordless exchange – their day had ended the moment she spoke his single syllable name.

Ezra tried to wrap his brain around Aria's logic. He felt like a yoyo, being pulled close on moment and let go at another – one minute she wanted him, another she didn't. One night she was kissing him, another she was kissing her so-called boyfriend. Walking aimlessly was supposed to clear his head, but it only became more clouded with each passing second. Understanding Aria Montgomery was something Ezra had often prided himself on. He used to be the only one who could crack the code as to how she was feeling and if she was putting up a front. However, he couldn't recognize her anymore.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. The school boy hope that it had would be her had evaporated. Either it was his mother with an email about some charity function she wanted to put together in light of him or Hardy.

_From: Hardy_

_How did it go? _

For someone who was awful with technology, Ezra's fingers flew across the keyboard.

_Cold shoulder. – Ezra _

It didn't take long for his phone to ping with a response. Hardy had been on standby since Ezra told him about his night with Aria and what he was going to do. However, the response from his best friend and lawyer threw Ezra off guard – he had been expecting the usual "told you so" text.

_ Do you want me to have Spencer talk to her? _

Ezra locked the screen of his iPhone and slid it back into his jean pocket. No, he didn't want Spencer to talk to Aria. _He_ wanted to be the one to get an answer towards her strange antics. He'd let himself be tossed around and wound up for months – if he was going to figure out what was going on in her head, Ezra would get the answer without help from anyone.

Hour seemed to pass as he roamed around the small section of the city that he knew. Ezra stopped off at a small restaurant to grab himself a plate or something to satiate his ever growling stomach. Eating alone had come easy to him, but the stares he got from those around him at the other tables made Ezra squirm in his seat.

Eating at a bistro on a nationwide date night was one of his many mistakes.

After paying the check for his Pasta Primavera (that was cooked to perfection if Ezra was really noting the quality of his food), he settled on wandering some more before heading back to his car to drive home. The food in his stomach made him feel heavy and the strong Italian wine he'd consumed made his head feel light.

But it did give him liquid courage. Leaving things unfinished with Aria and leaving the city would leave _him_ with questions that would keep him awake at night. Could he call her? Was there hope to talk it out? Was it worth talking it out? Could they really only be friends?

Ezra swallowed the lump in his throat that had been growing since 3 'o' clock when he'd left the museum and turned in the direction towards Aria's apartment building. With each step, the alcohol burned in his veins – Ezra wasn't drunk, but it was enough to make him lose whatever inhibitions he had.

A bouquet of yellow roses caught his eye as he walked the familiar path. Ezra closed his ears to the sounds of the city – the cars crawling past on crowded streets and couples giggling. Philadelphia felt the scene of a romantic comedy, which was far from Ezra's story. After a quick exchange of money, the roses were wrapped up and in his possession for the rest of the way.

The doorman waved to him as he crossed into the building. Ezra's presence had become familiar to those who worked to maintain the apartment complex – he even held small talk with the man who ran the elevator. He returned a smile to the doorman before opting to use the stairs as he often did. Ezra checked his watch – 8 'o' clock. Aria usually liked to get her baby down before 9.

His heavy stomach churned from the Pasta Primavera – perhaps heavy Italian food wasn't exactly the right choice before confrontation. Ezra passed a hand through his matted down curls. Unlike before, with each passing step his confidence became higher and higher, peaking when he came to Aria's door. The bouquet of flowers weren't shaking in his hand.

Ezra Fitz had always been someone who went after what he wanted. If that wasn't proven by his constant chase after Aria Montgomery, then Bill Gates wasn't a business and technological genius. But, Ezra wasn't a fighter per say – a fighter through life, but not by violence. He fought his way through his trial, but fighting with his fists had never been an option.

A gurgling laughter sounded from the other side of Aria's door. If he pushed it open now, it would be the first time he saw her baby – if Ezra turned the knob on her usually unlocked door, he'd be taking the situation into his own hands. Aria would have to introduce him to her little girl and they'd have to talk.

Another chortle of laughter came, however it was manlier and full of gusto. Ezra's stomach dropped to the ground – the boyfriend. He was barely aware to the man's name, let alone how he sounded or Aria's dynamic with him.

The baby giggled again followed by Aria's unmistakable chuckle. "I think she likes you almost as much as I do." Her words were muffled, but they were enough to make Ezra's grip on the flowers slip, the bouquet falling to the floor with a thump.

Ezra Fitz wasn't a fighter, even if who he wanted required him to bulk up his fists and risk someone else's happiness happiness.

Ezra Fitz loved Aria Montgomery – so much so that he left the flowers at her front door and didn't disrupt the quasi-family moment that seemed to give her so much joy behind closed doors.


	14. Chapter 14

**I really hope this chapter makes sense to all of you. But, I have a feeling you'll stop hating me and love me for it! Please remember to review! The story's EXTREMELY close to 300! **

**Please keep in mind that it's exactly 3:12 AM as I'm writing this, so if it doesn't make sense, I'm so sorry. And to the anon who asked if I do tech or acting - acting is the answer.**

**Review and enjoy! **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.**

* * *

Moving on was a difficult task, especially when the person you wanted to leave behind had left a rather large imprint on your life. Ezra started with boxing up the things in his apartment that reminded him of Aria. The size six socks in that were strayed around his drawer went into a trash bag. Her old essays from the days they were teacher and student were disintegrated in Hardy's monstrous paper shredder. It had taken him another long month, but little by little, Ezra Fitz's apartment was Aria Montgomery free, just as it should've been a long time ago.

Loss of a relationship was almost like a death. Ezra went through the stages of grief – he was angry that she'd tossed him around so easily and in denial that she wouldn't call. He had let Aria go, or so he believed. Deep down, it nagged Ezra that he hadn't completely rid her hold on his heart, but he could believe he did to make himself feel better.

After a month of effort to forget, Ezra dipped his toe into the dating pool; or well, he was pushed in somewhat against his will. Mia Sterling was the complete opposite of Aria. She was less of a busy body and went more with the flow of things. Ezra's meeting with her had been completely calculated by Hardy, but the leggy blonde managed to worm her way into his life, however nondescript their relationship was. Mia was a breath of fresh air – it was easy to love something, but there was nothing like something shiny and new when the old was too beaten up.

Ezra's lips were sealed about his past, especially Aria, while with Mia. Ever the pessimist (but who wouldn't blame him with his relationships), Ezra didn't want to imagine a future with her. Not that he ever wanted white picket fences and a golden retriever, but picturing Mia cooking him breakfast with a large rock on her finger that cost him his yearly salary made Ezra squirm.

Why was he with her? Ezra did like Mia, but ultimately, he didn't want to be lonely anymore. And it would keep Hardy off his back.

"You would be the type to keep dusty old books." Mia coughed from where she stood in front of Ezra's large, but now less packed bookcase. In her hands was a leather bound copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ . It was a first edition that he managed to snag at a second hand bookshop on one of his many trips up to New York. Ezra had it shelved in waiting for Aria's eighteenth birthday. He had planned to tape an engagement ring inside so that she'd open to the page right to where it would lie.

Obviously, that never came to fruition.

"It's not there for no reason," he shrugged. Once upon a time, Ezra had a reason for everything – Aria. Without her, he looked for the point in things. Turning on the TV had to hold a meaning besides watching a black and white movie. He constantly had to remind himself that it wouldn't make sense for him to order for two, except when Mia came around. And when Mia was there, ordering Aria's favorite right off the bat was unacceptable.

Mia's slender hands set the book down on the edge of the bookshelf. Her nails were painted a Barbie pink that made Ezra's eyes ache anytime he looked down on them. "But it's a reason you're not going to tell me, is it?"

Her lip folded over into a puppy dog pout. Ezra sighed – bringing up Aria out loud would be opening up a newly healed wound. It was one thing to think about her when the hours grew later and he was isolated alone in bed with his thoughts, but it was another to bring up his tumultuous past with someone who could become a staple into his life if Ezra let himself love again.

"It's a long story than isn't easy to relay with clarity."

"You're going to have to trust me one day, Ezra," Mia said pointedly towards him. "How do you expect this relationship to last if you can't tell me about your previous ones?"

His hand passed through his somewhat tamed hair. "I could tell you all about Jackie and Maggie and even my girlfriend that I had for a week in kindergarten. But telling you about Aria would only do more harm than good, Mia."

The blonde flipped her hair over her shoulder – it was a trait of hers that nagged Ezra's annoyance level to an all time high. "Hardy knows about Aria."

"That's because Hardy's been through it with me since day one."

Mia was closer to Ezra's age than Aria ever was, but her maturity level in that moment was absolutely boggling. She was the petulant child who wanted to instigate to get their way and he was the tired out parents he had too much of his own resolve to give in. With Mia, things were never perfect – then again, what relationship was? Ezra and Aria had never been perfect although there were moments when it came close.

"I don't think this is going to work." Ezra's words surprised himself almost as much as they surprised his blonde counterpart for the evening. "Mia, this didn't happen at the right time. You're great and you deserve to find someone who can commit to you totally – someone who can trust you fully and trust _themselves_ to fall in love again. And that's just not me or where I am right now. I'm sorry."

The calculated speech came out of him effortlessly as if Ezra had spent the whole night and day before preparing for this moment. From the icy glare Mia gave him as she got up from the couch, she believed it too.

"Famous last words," she grumbled while grabbing her purse off the island in the middle of the kitchen. Another flip of her blonde hair and Ezra's new relationship was over with the slam of his apartment door.

The relief that flooded over him was uncanny.

* * *

Ezra Fitz sat in his apartment feeling as free as he had when he'd been first released from prison; before figuring out that Aria wasn't on the other end of the gate, that is. Reclining back on his worn in leather couch, he almost laughed at himself. Any other man would be in the pits of depression after breaking up with a gorgeous blonde – Ezra felt like the shackles around his wrists and ankles were undone and he was set free.

Mia had made him feel guilty about not telling her of his relationship with Aria. In the few minutes after she'd gone, the guilt evaporated. Ezra was almost positive that he wouldn't be attempting to rekindle anything soon with the blonde – perhaps it would be better for him to be on his own for awhile. While searching for Aria, Ezra had lost himself.

He picked up the remote and turned on the television. A black and white movie flickered onto the screen; an old romance where the man saves the damsel in distress. It was cliché, but mind numbing which was just what Ezra needed along with a glass of his favorite amber tinted scotch.

In the middle of the protagonist's romantic overtures to his love interest, a small voice sounded on the other side of Ezra's closed door. If his attention hadn't been flitting all over the place, he wouldn't have heard it – it was muffled and choked up.

"Ezra," the voice called out again – it belonged distinctly to a woman. "Ezra, please open up."

He knew that voice.

It seemed as if each time Ezra felt himself making strides to leave the past behind, Aria came to bring him back to her.

Wrenching back the door, he came face to face with a red eyed, make up smeared Aria Montgomery. Whatever mascara she had used didn't appear to be waterproof and her cheeks were flushed as if she'd been wailing for hours. Ezra's heart thumped loudly in his chest, arms yearning to encircle her and will away the thing that had caused Aria's tears. Protecting her was a knee jerk notion– if Aria cried, Ezra launched into stark action.

"I saw her leave your apartment." Aria's red rimmed eyes looked up at him. A small part of him relished the tiny look of jealousy in her eyes. "I was coming up just as she left."

Ezra raised an eyebrow, but she continued to speak somewhat irrationally. "I know I screwed it up, Ezra, but I hated seeing someone else leave your apartment."

Keeping his comments to himself, Ezra thought of Aria's boyfriend – he remembered hearing him on the other side of her apartment door and the gut wrenching feeling that he attained knowing that she preferred the company of someone else. Not in the mood to argue, Ezra let her go on.

"And if you've moved on, I understand – the crap I've put you through is enough to send anyone running. But part of me is hoping you haven't. I know the flowers were from you, you know, the yellow roses? Of course they're from you – nobody besides you and my mom know they're my favorite. When I found them at my doorstep later that night, it was hard enough to not call you, let alone not think about you. I felt guilty, but the guilt pushed me to realize something.

It's always been you, Ezra."

Ezra was speechless. This was what he had been waiting for her to say to him for months – it only took several trials and a boyfriend to get Aria to that point. Part of him wanted to push her away and tell her to leave; he didn't want the potential heartache again or his hard work towards moving on to evaporate into thin air.

But Ezra Fitz had never refused Aria Montgomery, especially at a time where her eyes were welled up with enough tears to fill up an adult swimming pool.

"Aria, I…"

"Let me finish." Her tiny hand clamped around his lips. "He proposed to me tonight. When he opened up the ring, I knew I couldn't say yes because it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right because every scenario I've pictured in my head have involved you. I—I'm sorry, Ezra. I'm sorry for throwing you around like a rag doll. I'm sorry for playing with your emotions and I'm sorry for being scared of you. But now all I'm really scared of is how much I need you again."

By the time Aria had finished with her speech, her hand had come to rest on his cheek. Ezra looked down at Aria with dumbfounded eyes. _She wanted him. She needed him. She chose him. _

"I need you too," he croaked out.

Within seconds, Aria crashed her lips to his. Ezra's arms wound around her tiny waist, crushing her against his chest. Months upon months of emotion were released, both of them trying to soak up as much passion as they could before having to break apart for air. Aria's gentle fingers twined up in Ezra's unruly curls while his hands roamed over her body, trying to memorize and feel what he had missed over the years. He was half expecting her to swat his hands away, but Aria only pulled him closer.

Her tongue darted out, asking his to tangle along with hers. Ezra's lips parted graciously, hands picking up Aria's petite body so that he could maneuver them inside his apartment. His intentions were only those of the best, but he didn't want to stay outside in case her words had been false and Aria would try to make a quick getaway.

When the two broke apart, her leaving didn't seem like a question with an affirmative ending. Ezra's hands cupped Aria's cheeks, swollen lips parted to speak."Stay the night?"

As Aria complied with another kiss, Ezra could feel the universe shift around him. Finally, fate was on his good was on his side.


End file.
